Erdoğan revises civil servant wages twice in two days
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Jan. 4 revised up the rise of wages for active and retired civil servants to 30% from an initially announced 25%.
Reuters - Duvar English
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Jan. 4 revised up the rise of wages for active and retired civil servants to 30% from an initially announced 25%, as the country heads to tight elections in mid-2023.
Erdoğan on Jan. 3 announced that the civil servants' pay increase would be 25% for the first six months of 2023.
Speaking at a meeting of his AK Party in parliament, Erdoğan also said that the lowest pension for retired Turks would be 5,500 lira ($293.45) in 2023.
For December, the government-run Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported an annual inflation rate of 64.27, whereas the independent inflation group ENAG put the figure at 137.55%.
The rise of wages for active and retired civil servants is determined by the inflation rate every six months in Turkey. The inflation rate of the last six months rose 15.39% according to the official figure. Erdoğan on Jan. 3 announced the 25% wage rise for active and retired civil servants as "good news."
On the other hand, the minimum wage was raised by some 54.66% to 8,506 lira ($455) for 2023.