Parliament passes law imposing higher fines for stockpiling

ANKARA

Turkey’s parliament has approved a legislation that is designed to prevent stockpiling by imposing higher fines for such activities at a time when consumer prices are rising.

As part of the legislation an article in the law regulating retail trade was amended to introduce higher fines for producers, suppliers and retailers that engage in practices causing shortage, disrupting the working of the markets and distorting free competition.

The law approved by parliament increased the fines for stockpiling.

Under the new legislation, the lower and upper limits of the fines were increased to 100,000 Turkish Liras (around $7,300) and 2 million liras ($146,000), respectively, from 50,000 liras and 500,000 liras.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly said the government would not allow companies to stockpile goods and go after them.

Erdoğan argued that the price increases were partially due to stockpiling and greed, saying that some of the sharp rises in consumption prices could be explained with the fluctuations in foreign currency rates.

The latest data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed that consumer prices increased by 13.6 percent month-on-month in December 2021, for an annual inflation rate of 36.1 percent.

Earlier this week, the president said Turkey left the worst behind in terms of the economy and is approaching its objectives step by step, vowing that his government will take all the measures to ease the burden of the people due to exorbitant prices and difficulties stemming from currency volatility.