Municipalities will sell cleaning products for lower prices: Erdoğan

KASTAMONU

Municipalities will now sell cleaning products and many other items found in supermarkets directly to shoppers for lower prices, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed, after launching a similar move with fruits and vegetables.

“They are trying to attack us over onions, potatoes, peppers, eggplants and cucumbers. We have quelled this with precautions we have taken. Now, after our move, prices have fallen by half,” he said at a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) election rally in the Black Sea province of Kastamonu.

“[Prices] will decrease even more. We will sell other items too, from cleaning products to some more items sold in supermarkets,” he added.

Erdoğan said “some circles have been terrorizing the food industry” by excessively hiking vegetable and fruit prices.

“They wanted to seize our country through terrorist organizations like the separatist PKK, FETÖ and Daesh, but we will never let that happen,” he said, using the Arabic acronym of ISIL.

“They attempted to isolate [Turkey] in the international arena. They always used the economy as a weapon pointed at us,” he added.

He stressed the government was not overlooking the problems citizens were experiencing due to economic fluctuations. “We have been planning and implementing many incentives, supports and conveniences in many areas, from unemployment to taxes and prices.”

The 26 percent rise in the national minimum wage is an example of this, Erdoğan said.

“Extending the scope of production and employment incentives are examples of this,” he said, adding that when the AKP acceded exports stood at $36 billion while today it was at $768 billion.

Erdoğan also reiterated that taking out a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was out of question and that his AKP government had paid off a heft $23.5 billion debt to the IMF they inherited from predecessors after coming to power in 2001.

“March 31 is important for us to achieve want we want, it is an important milestone on our sacred march,” the president added, urging AKP voters and polling station officials to keep an eye on the ballot boxes on election day.

In a bid to fight inflation and sharp rise in food prices, the government rolled out a program on Feb. 11 in which municipalities are selling fruits and vegetables to consumers directly at lower prices in trucks, tents and stalls set up in cities’ busy areas.