ANKARA, Aug 16: Turkey’s government is raising the salaries of civil servants by 8.4 per cent in a bid to protect them from rising prices, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.

Erdogan told a televised news conference that the pay rises will take effect immediately and would bring the total pay increase for civil servants this year to an average 18.5 per cent, above an inflation rate around 12 per cent.

Pay rises for civil servants will create an additional 947 million lira ($800 million) expenditure for the government, Erdogan said.

Turkey’s workers have long complained that they do not benefit from the economy’s expansion but many economists have expressed concern that the government would boost spending ahead of local elections next year, widening the budget deficit.—Reuters