Blog 51

A friend living in the USA recently expressed his concern regarding the poor US economy and in particular the extortionately high price of petrol in his country.

Here in Turkey we also bemoan the high cost of petrol, so let's just compare who's the better off.

The current price of petrol in the USA is $3.30 per US gallon.
There are 3.79 liters in one US gallon.
So the price of petrol in the USA is 87 cents per liter.
That's 1.40 Turkish Lira per liter at today's exchange rates.

Now the current cost of petrol in Turkey is 3.25 Turkish Lira per liter.
That's [3.25 TL/lit x 3.79 lit/USgall] = $12.32 per US gallon.

And it doesn't stop there...

The average income per capita in the USA is $37,500.
The average income per capita in Turkey is $6,690.
[2005 statistics]

That means the average Turkish citizen has 5.6 LESS purchasing power than the average citizen in the USA.

So, if the price of petrol in the USA were to be adjusted to be equivalent to what it costs the average Turkish citizen today, in real terms, it would have to be increased to, wait for it...

$69.12 per US gallon.

Makes $3.30 per US gallon seem like a bargain, or what?

It's what Governments do...