Turkey to lower taxes on basic foods to fight high inflation

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s president has announced a 7 percentage-point reduction in taxes added to basic food supplies as the country faces rampant inflation of nearly 49%. He added the government also expects companies to also lower their prices by 7%. The central bank has brought down the key policy rate by 500 points since September to 14 percent but paused rate cuts in January. A currency crisis was triggered by the cuts and the Turkish lira hit record lows in December. Because Turkey relies on imports for its energy needs as well as raw materials and many food supplies, prices have skyrocketed.