Turkish Govt shocks citizens with electricity prices
A new increase in electricity prices in Turkey for
the second consecutive time in three months has enraged citizens.
The Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority
(EPDK) announced Tuesday raising consumer electricity prices by 14.9 percent,
knowing that the prices witnessed an equal raise in July.
After the new increase, users would pay starting
October TRY71.22 (around USD14) for 100 kilowatt-hours. EPDK said, in a
statement, that a key factor for increasing prices was the Electricity
Distribution Co. changing its wholesale prices with the unit-cost of
electricity inching up to 35 kurus.
The new move caused a withering criticism of the
government on social media, with citizens expressing anger expressed anger at
the power price rises which would increase burdens on Turkish households.
Earlier, the Organization for Economic Co-operation
and Development issued a report pointing out that the electricity prices in
Turkey rose by 307 percent since 2003, when the government of Justice and
Development Party became in charge under Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan.
Last August, the government imposed a new increase
in natural gas prices for the fourth time in less than one year by 15 percent
for houses and 14 percent for industrial usage.
Economists criticized the new roadmap to implement
the economic program, adding that the three goals announced by Turkish Finance
Minister Berat Albayrak are “unrealistic”.
Albayrak laid out on Monday Turkey's targets in the
New Economic Program (NEP) covering the 2020-2022 period. He stated that they
trimmed the inflation forecast for the end of this year to 12 percent, from the
current year's predictions of 15.1 percent, and to 8.5 percent for 2020, 6
percent in 2021 and 4.9 percent in 2022.
"Growth in 2019 will be 0.5 percent…After
closing 2019 with an unemployment rate of 12.9 percent, we aim to reduce the
figure to 11.8 percent next year, 10.6 percent in 2021 and 9.8 percent in
2022," the minister said.
Economist Ugur Gurses commented on Albayrak’s
roadmap, saying that he presented it to persuade his father-in-law (Erdogan)
and not the people. The official target of growth is 5 percent by 2022 but the
presented target for inflation is 12 percent for 2019, 8.5 percent, 6 percent
and 4.9 percent for the three coming years respectively.
Former Turkish Central Bank Governor Durmus Yilmaz
said that the budget deficit estimates in 2020-2022 of 2.9, 2.5, and 1.5
percent are based on taxes collection, which in their turn will be provided by
an anticipated growth of 5 percent in the coming three years.
