Turkey has raised the euro-lira conversion rate for medicine prices by 30.5 percent to 14.0387 lira per euro, Reuters reported, citing the country’s Official Gazette on Sunday.
The updated conversion rate is nearly half the market rate, with the lira standing at 29.9727 to the euro at Friday’s close.
The increase in medicine prices could further stoke inflation, which is already expected to rise more this year due to the lira’s deprecation and recent tax hikes introduced by Ankara. Economists are revising their end-2023 inflation forecasts to around 60 percent from 38.21 percent in June.
However, a separate study released by independent economists from the Inflation Research Group (ENAG) who question the official data put the June figure at 108.6 percent, up from 105.2 percent in May.
Turks have been shaken by frequent price hikes and tax increases since the elections in May, which led President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his party to secure another term in power.
Erdoğan, who generously spent taxpayer money and promised significant increases in civil servant salaries and the minimum wage during his election campaign, is now trying to make up for his lavish spending and promises, his critics say.