Top Turkish Grocer Rejects Erdogan’s Claims on Steep Price Rises

Turkey’s largest listed discount retailer rejected claims by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that grocers have been increasing prices while costs remain stable — a move he says is fueling the fastest pace of inflation in more than two decades.

“We are not the source of price increases we see on the labels,” Galip Aykac, chief operating officer of BIM Birlesik Magazalar AS, told BloombergHT in Istanbul. “Just as exchange offices are not the reason for the increase in exchange rates, and gas stations aren’t the reason for fuel-price increases.”