Minimum Wage Increase Swallowed up by Price Hikes

North Cyprus News - Turkish Lira purse

Monday, 31 July 2023 

Wager earners being paid in Turkish Lira are seeing little benefit to the increase in minimum wage which was agreed on 12 July, Yeniduzen reports.

In the same month, the cost of electricity, fuel, bottled gas and medicines were increased.

The new minimum wage, set at 15,750 TL which was equivalent to 603 Dollars, 548 Euros and 466 British Pounds on the day, depreciated by 539 TL against the Dollar, 720 TL against the Euro and 595 TL against Sterling on 28 July, the day the announcement was made.

Meanwhile, the price of electricity per kWh was increased by 0.30 to 0.90 kurus, fuel prices by approximately 3 TL per litre, bottled gas by 40 TL and medicine prices by 30 per cent.

The former Undersecretary of the State Planning Organisation (SPO) Ödül Muhtaroğlu speaking to Yeniduzen, pointed out that the six-monthly minimum wage increase has become meaningless and should be reviewed every two to three months to protect the purchasing power of the people.

Emphasising that there has been a 30 percent increase in medicine, Muhtaroğlu pointed out that all taxes should be reduced, especially on basic food, medicines and cleaning products.

Muhtaroğlu emphasised that a fixed exchange rate application should be introduced on imports during these periods and pointed out that the increases in electricity should be undertaken by finance.

Referring to the ‘regular’ increases in fuel, Muhtaroğlu said, “At first they said that the increases were due to the exchange rate, and now they say it is due to oil prices. They may not reflect this to the pump price by using the price stabilisation fund”.

Yeniduzen

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