Turkish government bans industrial production

Istanbul The Turkish government cuts gas and electricity supplies to the country’s industry for at least three days. The background is supply bottlenecks in Iran, from which Turkey recently covered 16 percent of its natural gas requirements. Anyone who still purchases electricity or gas is threatened with “criminal sanctions,” explained the Turkish network supplier Teias.

This will slow down the Turkish economic growth desired by President Erdogan. Even before that, things were not going well for the domestic economy – also because of the Turkish government: the fall in value of the Turkish lira had messed up the balance sheets of thousands of companies in the country. In addition, inflation is making almost everything more expensive, and the 50 percent increase in the minimum wage is driving up labor costs.

The fact that the state then surprisingly ordered a partial exchange of foreign currency from export earnings into Turkish lira left many company representatives at a loss. Many wonder if the government will ever be able to reconcile economic growth and wise industrial policies.