President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced a VAT rate reduction on basic food products from 8 percent to 1 percent as part of the program to simplify the VAT system at the ceremony held for the launch of Ministry of Treasury and Finance's Program on Combating Inflation on February 12.
Addressing the launch meeting via videoconference, President Erdoğan noted, “We are determinedly advancing on our path to developing our country's economy on the pillars of investment, employment, exports and current account surplus," and added globally rising commodity and energy prices appeared as high inflation and instability in financial markets. “The fight against inflation requires determination and confidence. The Turkish government is taking all promised steps one by one to overcome this situation and lowering of VAT for basic food products, which is already 1 percent for flour and bread, is one of these steps," President Erdoğan said.