Turkey will not compromise budget discipline in new inflation program: Albayrak
ANKARA
Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said there would be no compromise in budget discipline in his program to combat surging inflation due to be announced next week, Anadolu Agency reported on Oct. 7.
Earlier this week data showed Turkey’s inflation soared to a 15-year high of nearly 25 percent in September, with prices jumping 6.3 percent from a month earlier.
In one month, the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks rose more than 6 percent and transportation surged more than 9 percent, according to official data.
Producer prices - a leading indicator of price change in the economy - soared more than 46 percent from last year.
The size of the increase far outpaced expectations after the lira lost nearly 40 percent of its value this year.
Following the release of the inflation data on Oct. 3, Albayrak said he would announce a program as part of the government’s “full-fledged” battle against rising consumer prices.
“There is no compromise in budget discipline; the rebalancing period in the economy has started. A strong program to combat inflation will be announced,” Albayrak was quoted as telling members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Oct. 7.
Turkey will impose fines on “opportunists” who use volatility in the foreign exchange rate to raise prices, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated on Oct. 6.
“We will not abandon our people to the mercy of opportunists,” he told members of the ruling party in Ankara.
Erdoğan urged Turkish people on Oct. 2 to report stores that had imposed unusual price hikes during the currency crisis, and said authorities would raid those businesses if necessary.
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