Turkey, which is in the midst of an economic mess with March inflation touching 61.14 per cent, could thrash out severe punishment to analysts publishing reports on macroeconomy without the approval of the country’s statistics agency. According to a draft proposal, the analysts could face jail terms anywhere between one and three years.

According to Bloomberg, which has seen the draft law, researchers would be barred from publishing data on any platform without seeking approval from the statistics agency, which would have two months to assess methodology.

“Some of the manipulative statistics presented to the public under the name of scientific study without a clear methodology target both the Turkish Statistical Institute and the confidence in economic indicators,” read the draft.

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Websites that publish unapproved statistics could also be banned.

Turkey’s economic crisis has been deepening. Inflation in March climbed to a 20-year high pushing cost of living crisis.

Meanwhile, with a view to supporting the Turkish currency lira, the Recep Tayyip Erdogan government has made it mandatory for the country’s exporters to sell 25 per cent of their foreign currency earnings to the central bank. Reports indicated that the quantum may be increased to 40-50 per cent.

The value of lira fell 44 per cent to a dollar in 2021.

The lira stabilised a fair bit after hitting record lows in December 2021 once the lira bank deposits plan was introduced.