Turkey cuts VAT on electricity to 8 percent to combat inflation

Duvar English 

Turkey reduced the value-added tax (VAT) on electricity used in residences and agricultural irrigation to 8% from 18%, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced on Feb. 28, in a move to combat soaring inflation.

"By the summer months, we will have brought the inflation problem, which has been plaguing our nation in daily life, under control to a great extent," Erdoğan told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Ankara.

Citizens and shopkeepers throughout Turkey have been for weeks organizing protests over surging energy bills as a wave of inflation-fuelled discontent spread across the country.

On the first day of 2022, Turkey increased gas prices by 25 percent and electricity prices by 50-125 percent. 

Inflation leaped to near 50% in January, raising the cost of living for Turks already struggling to make ends meet after a currency crash in December sparked by Erdoğan's unorthodox low interest rates policy.

The government has raised the minimum wage by 50% this year in response to the turmoil. But it also hiked prices for gas, power, petrol and road tolls to account for import price volatility, straining household budgets and deepening poverty.