Turkish AKP government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, raised natural gas prices on Saturday by as much as 14 percent, while the energy regulator announced a similar increase in electricity costs as a deepening currency crisis stokes inflation.
The rate hikes, which will further feed double-digit inflation, highlight another impact of Turkey's ongoing currency crisis. Turkey is dependent on imports for almost all of its energy needs. The lira currency has fallen some 42 percent this year. The lira crisis has driven up the cost, in local currency terms, of oil and gas.
Last month, state pipeline operator BOTAŞ increased the price of natural gas for electricity production by 50 percent and by 9 percent for residential use.
Likewise, Turkey's energy regulator said it would raise electricity prices by 14 percent for industrial use and 9 percent for households from Saturday. It increased prices by the same amount last month. The organization, reviewing tariffs once in 3 months, decided to enter the new tariffs into force on 1 September this year.
