Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed that his government will announce in the coming days raising the minimum wage to a much higher level than usual.
Erdogan spoke at a press conference today, Wednesday, after a meeting of the parliamentary bloc of his "Justice and Development" party, and indicated that there is an upcoming increase in the salaries of specialist doctors by 5,000 liras, and for general practitioners, 2500 liras (the dollar is about 13 liras).
He pointed out that his government had adopted a growth strategy focusing on investment, employment, production and export, and said that every work, service and investment that successive Turkish governments accomplished in the past 19 years was a preparation for this strategy.
With regard to the recent fluctuations in exchange rates, Erdogan said, "We are well aware of the anxiety that the people are experiencing due to the uncertainty caused by the rise in currency rates and the high prices," and considered that the bulk of the recent developments are due to global fluctuations in prices.
He added, "The outrageous increase in the prices of some products in the local markets does not carry a logical explanation, and we know that it is necessary to purify this toxic atmosphere that leads to high prices as quickly as possible."
Erdogan said that his country is moving towards achieving its desired goals, explaining that it achieved a growth of 7.4% in the third quarter of this year, ranking first among the G-20 countries, adding that Turkey is moving towards achieving growth of more than 10% by the end of the year, pointing out that If it had continued with the high interest rate system, it would not have achieved this success.
He believed that "interest is a curse that increases the wealth of the rich and makes the poor poorer," stressing that reducing it contributes to "increasing production and employment."