The New Year has seen increases in Turkey in the prices of cigarettes, alcoholic drinks and electricity, according to a Hurriyet Daily News story.
The government announced tax increases on these products two days after announcing that the minimum wage would increase by 30 percent.
The Hurriyet’s story said that ‘experts’ had continually warned that the rise in taxes in recent years had led to an increase in sales of counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes, and of bootleg alcoholic drinks.
Smuggled cigarettes have reportedly cost the Turkish economy about 20 billion liras during the past five years.