Presidents of the chambers of commerce and industry in various provinces of Türkiye have answered the government's call to back mutual effort to alleviate the burden of rising costs on consumers by urging their members to "join hands to combat inflation," a recent report by Sabah paper indicated.
Trade Minister Ömer Bolat earlier this month said they "expect a substantial discount campaign from all markets in the 100th year of our republic" before expanding his call on Tuesday to cover other players of the retail industries, including textile and home appliances.
Speaking at an event in central Konya province Saturday he reiterated the initiative, calling on other sectors to join the call.
"We made a call to the markets. After the Cabinet meeting, our president made a call to all sectors and chain markets; while local markets, the retailers' federation and the retailers' association started to announce big discount campaigns," he said.
Following calls made by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Bolat, Türkiye’s leading supermarket chains, including Migros, BIM, Şok and Yeni Mağazacılık, known as A101, as well as the markets operated by the Agricultural Credit Cooperatives, have announced offers for discounts varying from 20%-50% on a wide range of products.
"We had stated that we expected this from other sectors. We expect the same from suppliers and manufacturers," the minister said.
The annual inflation in Türkiye rose from 58.9% in August to 61.5% in September. Consumer prices advanced 4.75% month-over-month, but the monthly increase slowed from 9.1% in August.
The Federation of Furniture Associations (MOSFED) also said its members will not increase the retail prices until the end of 2023.
Meanwhile, according to Sabah's report, apart from initial support, pledges for additional discounts have been made from Adana to Kayseri, Konya to Uşak, Ankara to Trabzon, and many other provinces.
"We made a call to our 25,000 members, and it began to get reciprocated. Particularly, our local chain markets launched a 10%-30% discount campaign after our call. Apart from this, our members in other sectors have started to take steps to participate in the campaign. We are going through a difficult process. We will get through this process if we are together," said Kayseri Chamber of Commerce President Ömer Gülsoy.
Similarly, Zeki Kıvanç, president of the Adana Chamber of Industry voiced the importance of the call, noting everyone needs to take responsibility to fight inflation.
"We have more than 2,000 member industrialists. We call on all our industrialists to make discounts to combat inflation and the cost of living. I have full faith that our industrialists from Adana will do their best to make a strong contribution to this cause," he said.
The head of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) has also called on tens of thousands of member companies to support efforts to fight inflation by cutting their prices.
"I invite all our producers and traders not to increase their prices, or to make discounts at least until the end of the year," said Şekib Avdagiç in a statement, addressing the association’s more than 750,000 members.
These discounts must spread to all sectors and products, Avdagiç said, adding that the positive impacts of the rationalization policies that the government is implementing have begun to be seen.