Türkiye raises minimum wage to 8500 liras

Economy  |
Editor : Gülcan Ayboğan
| Last update :

President Erdoğan announced on Dec.22 the minimum wage will be determined as 8 thousand 500 TL net. 

Türkiye raises minimum wage to 8500 liras

President Erdoğan announced his statement on the minimum cost of 2023. In 2023, the minimum wage was 10 thousand 8 TL in gross and 8 thousand 506 TL in net. In additional, state support of 250 TL per worker will be given for the given wage.

The net minimum wage for single individuals will be TL 8,500 ($455) a month, up from TL 5,500 a month, Erdoğan told a televised address from the capital Ankara. The increase also represents an average annual hike of over 70%, he added.

Turkish households have been struggling with the highest inflation in more than two decades. Annual inflation dropped below 85% last month after touching a 24-year high in October. It is expected to decline sharply in the period ahead as a result of the base effect and falling energy prices globally.

The almost 55% raise is the third hike in the past year. The country enacted a 50% hike at the beginning of 2022, which lifted the minimum wage to TL 4,250. It was then decided to raise the minimum wage in the country again by 30% mid-year in an effort to safeguard households from soaring inflation. Effective as of July 1, 2022, the new minimum wage was set as TL 5,500 per month.

The government will consider another hike to the minimum wage in the event of "unexpected" developments, Erdoğan said. He added that he expects inflation will slow down to as low as 30% in the first half of 2023.

Erdoğan earlier stressed the intensive efforts he said the government was undertaking to eliminate the causes other than cost increases leading to high inflation.

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