Turkey welcomes new year with tax hikes as cigarette prices jump

Philip Morris has become the first company to announce cigarette price hikes after recent tax hikes introduced by the Turkish government.

Tobacco producer Philip Morris/Sabancı announced yesterday an increase of one Turkish Lira in the retail prices of all their products regardless of their previous prices. With the hikes, the price of a pack of cigarettes that had cost eight liras is now nine liras, while a pack that had previously cost five liras will now be six liras.

Another tobacco company, British American Tobacco (BAT) revealed they are set to increase their prices as well within a week. “Because the tax hike is not too much, cigarette prices won’t increase much either. While we haven’t made a decision, it won’t be around 20 to 30 percent as it was thought before,” Rıza Tuna Turagay, the BAT Turkey corporate communications director and a board member, told daily Star.

The government yesterday announced that the graduated state tax rate on one pack of cigarettes will rise to 81.6 percent from 80 percent. With the change, the amount of state tax on an 8-lira pack increased to 6.53 liras from 5.22 liras.

Read more: ECONOMICS - Turkey welcomes new year with tax hikes as cigarette prices jump