Business Recorder: Turkey to hike natural gas prices 10-15pc: Erdogan

Turkey will hike natural gas prices by between 10-15 percent in early October, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, a further step to shore up public finances as the government tries to remedy a widening budget deficit.

Turkey was Europe's fastest-growing economy last year with an 8.5 percent expansion, but growth has slowed sharply this year, to 2.9 percent in the second quarter, and tax revenues are falling short of budget targets.

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said last week that the government would miss its budget deficit target of 1.5 percent of national output this year by 1 percentage point.  MORE