ISTANBUL, Jan 1 (Reuters) – Turkey sharply raised electricity prices by 50-100 percent for households and companies on Saturday, and again increased monthly natural gas bills, adding to strains in an economy facing soaring overall inflation.
The Energy Market Regulatory Authority said electricity prices were raised around 50 percent for lower-demand households for 2022, while they were increased by more than 100 percent for high-demand commercial users.
Natural gas prices jumped 25 percent for residential use and 50 percent for industrial use in January, national distributor BOTAS said separately. The price rise was 15 percent for electricity-generating industrial use.
Turkey’s annual inflation jumped above 21 percent in November and is seen surpassing 30 percent in December, after a currency crash in recent months brought on by a series of unorthodox interest rate cuts.
Reporting by Azra Ceylan; Editing by Neil Fullick
