Turkish trade officials crack down on companies’ opportunistic “abnormal” price hikes

Turkish trade officials crack down on companies’ opportunistic “abnormal” price hikes
Trade inspectors are on the prowl in Turkish high streets looking to ferret out suspect prices. / Bertramz.
By bne IntelliNews September 5, 2018

Turkey’s Ministry of Trade has reportedly launched probes into companies that have hiked prices “abnormally” amid the ongoing currency turbulence.

State-run Anadolu Agency reported that officials were inspecting companies in all provinces of Turkey after “rumours suggesting that some speculators hiked prices of various products by using the temporary volatility in financial markets as an opportunity”.

Inspections were said to be aimed at detecting sellers who inordinately raised prices even though they were not significantly impacted by production cost inflation and the collapse in the value of the Turkish lira (TRY) against hard currencies.

Annual inflation, recorded in August at 17.9%, is at its highest in Turkey in 15 years. The month also saw a 7% m/m gain in producer price inflation, taking the year on year rate from 25% to 32.13%.

The TRY is down around 42% against the dollar in the year to date.

Foodstuffs, home appliance and furniture stores across 81 provinces were checked for price changes under a new August 31 decree, Anadolu said.

"Administrative processes" were launched against commercial entities that increased their prices “abnormally” or resorted to “disguised price hikes” by decreasing the packaged volume of sold food products.

Read in IntelliNews Pro
Get IntelliNews Pro

Related Articles

Turkey's YEO to launch solar-plus-storage project in Zambia in partnership with GEI Power

Zambian sustainable energy company GEI Power is partnering with Turkey’s YEO to develop a 60 MW solar plant with a 20 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in the Choma district of the ... more

Turkish Deniz Bank stops opening Russian accounts

One of the largest Turkish banks DenizBank has significantly tightened the conditions for opening accounts for Russian nationals since the beginning of 2024 and has practically stopped approving such ... more

Despite local elections defeat Erdogan “remains in control” at head of “super-executive regime”, says analyst

Despite his AKP party’s defeat in the weekend’s local elections, Turkish President ... more

Follow Us On

Most Read

  1. Ukraine’s strategy of hitting Russian oil refineries is working
    3 days ago
  2. RAGOZIN: Exhausting Russia, strategies and fantasies
    10 days ago
  3. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan join forces to power Europe
    4 days ago
  4. April 2024 sets global moisture record
    5 days ago
  5. Think-tank warns UN vote on Srebrenica genocide could trigger Republika Srpska’s secession from Bosnia
    6 days ago
  1. Iran vs Israel: Who is better equipped for war?
    1 month ago
  2. Ukraine's birth rate plummets to 300-year low as country’s population collapses
    26 days ago
  3. Saudi Arabia to scale back plans for Neom city
    1 month ago
  4. Fresh evidence suggests that the April 2022 Istanbul peace deal to end the war in Ukraine was stillborn
    26 days ago
  5. Shocking trial of ex-minister has shifted domestic violence attitudes in Kazakhstan, says brother
    11 days ago

Reports

Dismiss