The Turkish currency, the lira, has continued to depreciate in recent years, reaching a depreciation of about 45% this year. As the lira depreciates sharply, the price of goods in Turkey becomes increasingly attractive to foreigners. Turkey's western border city of Edirne borders Bulgaria. In the past month, there has been an endless stream of Bulgarians who come here to shop.
The Blue Bazaar is a bazaar in Edirne, Turkey, selling a variety of Turkish food and daily necessities, the reporter learned that many Bulgarians crossed the border to come here early in the morning to shop, although it has been raining, but this has not extinguished the enthusiasm of Bulgarians to come here to shop.
Bulgarian tourist Levant: Compared to Bulgaria, the price here is 30%, 40% cheaper.
Bulgarian tourist Durmush: We arrived at seven o'clock in the morning, I was ready to buy jackets, sneakers, clothes and food, and I was very happy with the price, much cheaper than Bulgaria.
A month ago, 1 Bulgarian lev could only be exchanged for 5.7 Turkish lira, now 1 lev is almost equivalent to 8 lira. In one month, Lev appreciated about 40% compared to the lira. This attracts more Bulgarians to turkey for shopping. Moreover, many stall owners in the bazaar, in addition to the lira, also accept customers to trade with lev or euros. From olives, cheese and pastry, to clothes, shoe bags, toiletries and even building materials, Bulgarians source a wide variety of goods in the bazaars and malls of Edirne. Many stall owners say that in recent times, 90% of their customers are Bulgarian.
This black salted olive is the favorite olive of Bulgarian customers, the stall owner told reporters, four months ago a kilogram of such black olives sold 5 lev, a month ago dropped to 4 lev, now only 3 lev a kilogram.
Kennan, stall owner of Edirne Bazaar in Turkey: In the past two weeks, especially on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, our sales have increased by 35% to 40%. (CCTV Finance)
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