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Speaking at an event to announce his programme to fight
inflation, Albayrak, President Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law, said
ensuring price stability cannot be conducted by the government
alone and all economic actors need to support it. Inflation
surged to a 15-year high of nearly 25 percent in September.
"The fight against inflation and for price stability is not a
fight that can be conducted by the state and institutions
alone," Albayrak said, adding that prices would be lowered by a
minimum 10 percent until the end of the year.
He said the discount would be reflected in all the goods that
make up Turkey's inflation basket, and that there would not be
any more price increases in electricity and natural gas until
year-end.
September inflation data, which showed consumer prices climbed
6.3 percent during the month for an annual rise of 24.52
percent, far outpaced expectations and illustrated the impact of
a currency crisis on the economy and consumers.
The lira <TRYTOM=D3> has lost 38 percent of its value against
the dollar this year on concerns about President Tayyip
Erdogan's influence over the central bank and a diplomatic spat
with Washington. It eased slightly to 6.15 as Albayrak spoke.
Investors are now weighing up prospects for the central bank to
raise interest rates at its next policy-setting meeting on Oct.
25. At its meeting last month it hiked its benchmark rate by a
massive 6.25 percentage points, supporting the lira.
Producer prices - a leading indicator of price change in the
economy - soared more than 46 percent in September from a year
earlier.
(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun, Ali Kucukgocmen and Ece Toksabay;
Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by David Dolan)
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