Turkey jacks up electricity, gas prices
Turkey sharply raised electricity prices by 50-100% for households and companies on Saturday, and again increased monthly natural gas bills, adding to strains in an economy facing soaring overall inflation.
The Energy Market Regulatory Authority said electricity prices were raised around 50% for lower-demand households for 2022, while they were increased by more than 100% for high-demand commercial users.
Natural gas prices jumped 25% for residential use and 50% for industrial use in January, national distributor BOTAS said separately. The price rise was 15% for electricity-generating industrial use.
Turkey’s annual inflation jumped above 21% in November and is seen surpassing 30% in December, after a currency crash in recent months brought on by a series of unorthodox interest rate cuts.
Turkey’s lira has logged its worst year since President Tayyip Erdogan came to power nearly two decades ago.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 2nd, 2022.
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