“Within the framework of this collective agreement, we will increase wages by 45%, including welfare contributions, and raise the minimum wage for civil servants to 15,000 liras,” President Erdoğan said in the capital Ankara.
President Erdoğan has indicated that the government also intends to raise wages and pensions for civil servants.
The announcement became a trending topic and sparked criticism on Twitter, with some users protesting that civil servants would now earn more than civil servant engineers.
The move is unlikely to erase doubts about whether President Erdogan is serious about tackling runaway inflation. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unconventional monetary policy of lowering interest rates in the face of soaring prices has sparked double-digit inflation, a currency crisis and soaring costs of living, infuriating Turkish voters.
The annual inflation rate hit a record high of 85.5% in October last year, and was just under 44% in April.
“We will continue to take these measures even though the earthquake disaster has burdened our economy with more than $100 billion. Now, thank God, Turkey can bear all these burdens. It has reached strength and scale,” President Erdoğan said, referring to the cost of rebuilding after a devastating earthquake in the southeastern province this year.
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the opposition presidential candidate, is running against Erdoğan, and a POLITICO poll shows the race is close.
