Major retailers in Türkiye this week announced a wave of initiatives of discounts and price freezes on an array of consumer goods in a bid to tame inflation after meetings and calls by officials.
The development builds government pressure for businesses to do more to curb skyrocketing consumer prices, which have moderated over the last two months after hitting a 24-year high in October.
Major supermarket chains, including Migros, Şok Marketler and A101 Yeni Mağazacılık, recently announced they would freeze the prices of thousands of everyday goods.
The government had warned leading grocery exploitative pricing chains following a reported fresh wave of price hikes after the country announced an increase in the minimum wage for 2023.
Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati this week called for retailers to act, stressing exploitative pricing would not be accepted.
“I am calling on both national and local markets not to increase or fix prices for a certain period. We are ready to provide any kind of contribution," he said, informing that there are still retailers who don't abide by the orders.
Nebati and Trade Minister Mehmet Muş separately met with top executives of leading retailers recently. Muş warned the government would never allow unfair price hikes aimed at disrupting the market order and functioning.
Şok announced it would freeze prices of some 1,000 basic consumer goods throughout January, from rice, pasta, pulses, flour, tea, coffee, sugar and oil to multiple vegetables.
Şok CEO Uğur Demirel said the retailer decided to “contribute to the national economy and the customers’ budget.” “We will continue to serve our customers with our low price policy below market prices,” Demirel said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Migros stressed its "anti-inflation commitment" and announced it was fixing prices of 419 of its own goods and was making discounts on prices of over 3,000 products. It also froze prices of many basic goods, including oil, flour, tea, sugar, pulses, detergent and diapers for this month.
Migros further said it would make constant discounts on prices of over 3,000 branded products while offering special reductions of between 25% and 50% in prices of around 20,000 goods to cover all products in 23 different groups.
Owner of one of the largest store networks across Türkiye, A101 on Friday said it would freeze prices of 2,023 basic goods throughout January.
Similarly, CarrefourSA said it was making discounts of between 20% and 40% on prices of 20,000 food and non-food products for this month.
Another major retailer, Happy Center also said it would make discounts of up to 20% on food and nonfood goods.
“We will offer all the support we can to our people. As Happy Center grocery stores, we have made discounts on food and nonfood products, and discounts will continue. With the new year, we have reduced the sticker prices of food and nonfood products by 10% to 20%,” Happy Center Stores CEO Yavuz Altun said.
Inflation in Türkiye in December decelerated at its steepest pace in more than a quarter century.
Annual consumer price inflation fell sharply to 64.27% in December from the 84.39% reported in November. The decline was driven mainly by the so-called favorable base effect and marked a second straight fall after inflation hit a 24-year high of 85.5% in October.
The government announced a 55% raise in the official minimum wage for 2023. It has 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.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also announced a measure that would allow over 2 million people to retire early. He said the minimum wage may be hiked again throughout the year if necessary.
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.
