No slash in minimum wage to cost $336 million to Turkey’s budget, says minister

“We will take the required steps so as not to cut the minimum wage under 1,300 Turkish Liras [$436] by fine-tuning the minimum living allowance… If the income declines under this amount, an additional minimum living allowance cut will be performed,” said Finance Minister Naci Ağbal, as quoted by Anadolu Agency. 

He noted that the ministry’s loss from income taxes will be around 1 billion liras for the last three months of the year, when the income taxes get higher, yet adding workers or employers will not face any difficulties. 

Turkey raised the minimum wage by 30 percent to 1,300 liras for over 8 million workers at the beginning of the year.

Due to the increasing income rate cut system in Turkey on a monthly basis, this figure was supposed to decrease by around 70 liras as of September. 

Ağbal also noted that the new regulation will not include minimum wagers, but also any workers whose wages were normally slashed under 1,300 liras due to the increase in income taxes. 

“The minimum wage was supposed to decline to 1,230 liras as of September. As our former labor and social security minister, Süleyman Soylu, had promised earlier, we will not make this cut,” said current Labor Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu in a televised interview on CNN Türk on Sept. 19. 

Then Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said late Sept. 20 that the Finance Ministry would cover the respective difference in a bid not to cut the minimum wage under its current amount.