‘Pay rises no solution to tackling inflation’

MEASURES should be taken to reduce the cost of living instead of increasing salaries, People’s Party chairman Kudret Özersay has said.

Dr Özersay commented on the issue following an increase in the dollar price of crude oil, which he said would lead to higher fuel prices, which in turn would cause consumer prices to rise further. Last week the TRNC’s Statistical Institute announced that the official inflation rate in North Cyprus has risen to 120 per cent, currently one of the highest rates in the world.

Dr Özersay said that since the beginning of the year his party has made repeated calls for the government to take measures to “cheapen the market instead of raising salaries”.

He said these measures could include a temporary reduction to “zero” for tax and customs on products for basic needs, while ensuring that these cuts are passed on to shelf prices; providing “substantial support” to help producers cover their “input costs”, particularly the cost of electricity and fertiliser; and fixing the customs exchange rate; calculating import taxes based on net prices which exclude freight costs, among other measures.

Dr Özersay accused the government of “not even lifting a finger” to help curb inflation, adding that the public’s purchasing power is “rapidly eroding” and that “everyone is trying to figure out what to cut back on to get by until the end of the month”.

He added: “All this means more unhappy, more tense and anxious individuals, tensions within families, children’s expectations that cannot be met, and those who have started a new family and working life thinking about leaving the country out of hopelessness.”