Turkey Hikes Diesel Price on Weak Lira

Turkey has raised the price of diesel after a weaker lira pushed up the cost of its crude oil imports, an industry source told Reuters on Monday, a move which could put further pressure on stubbornly high inflation.

 

The price of standard diesel is now 3.27 liras per liter, which the source said will go up 0.09 lira per liter at midnight on Tuesday (2200 GMT on Monday), the source said. The move comes after the lira dropped to a series of record lows against the dollar in recent weeks.

 

Turkey depends on imports for almost all its energy. Its annual energy bill comes to around $60 billion.

 

Although global oil prices have been seen a seven-month selloff, dropping by more than 50 percent, they have crept up again in recent days towards $60 a barrel, compounding the effect of the weak lira on Turkey's import bill.