Finance Ministry Official Appointed Head of Turkish Statistics Institute

Turkey's economic bureaucracy witnessed what Turkish media described as an "appointment storm" at the end of last week. TÜİK (the Turkish Statistical Institute, known internationally as TURKSTAT) named a new president drawn from within the Treasury and Finance Ministry, according to reporting by Cumhuriyet newspaper.

The appointment comes amid sharp opposition criticism of the statistics institute over inflation data it recently released. The institute has faced repeated criticism from the opposition regarding the credibility of the inflation figures it publishes, raising questions about its independence.