President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday revised upward the increase in wages for active and retired civil servants to 30% for the first half of 2023.
Erdoğan on Tuesday announced that the civil servants’ pay increase would be 25% for the first six months of this year.
“We are giving the good news to our civil servants and all pensioners that the salary increases as of January 2023 will be applied as 30%,” Erdoğan told a parliamentary meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
The president also said that the lowest pension for retired Turks would be TL 5,500 ($293.45) in 2023, up from TL 3,500.
The government tripled the minimum wage in the past year, raised state salaries and hiked pensions for millions to ease the pressure on households stemming mostly from soaring inflation.
The minimum wage has been increased by 55% for 2023 and Erdoğan also announced a measure that would allow more than 2 million people to retire early. He said the minimum wage may be hiked again throughout the year if necessary.
Erdoğan on Wednesday also said the state's minimum wage support extended to businesses was revised to TL 400, up from TL 250 that he announced in late December.
“We had increased the minimum wage support amount from TL 100 to TL 250. Now I would like to share the decision to increase the minimum wage support to TL 400 for our small businesses to cope with this burden,” he said.
Annual consumer price inflation in Türkiye fell sharply to 64.27% in December from the 84.39% reported in November. The decline was driven mainly by the favorable so-called base effect and marked a second straight fall after inflation hit a 24-year high of 85.5% in October.
Erdoğan last month said inflation would go “upside down” in the coming months and pledged to free Türkiye from the cost-of-living “scourge” in 2023.
The government last year introduced several relief measures to help cushion the fallout from inflation, including a cap on rent increases, reduced taxes on utility bills and the unveiling of a major housing project for low-income families.
Public finances are strong compared to Türkiye's emerging market peers, leaving plenty of room for stimulus. The 2023 budget includes TL 4.47 trillion ($239 billion) in spending and sees a deficit of about 3.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) for this year and next.
