AFTER saying additional import taxes on electronic goods, mainly mobile phones, would be imposed, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci has backtracked.

On August 17, Zeybekci in a speech at the Turkey-Iraq Business Forum meeting in Istanbul, said: ”There won’t be any additional customs duties or compensatory taxes on tablets and mobile phones.”

Last month he said the government would put additional import taxes on electronic goods in the coming days.

The number of mobile phone sales shot up by 10 percent immediately after the announcement, reaching 1.1 million in the month.

Zeybekci had also said in an interview with daily Milliyet that the new tax on imported mobile phones was intended to “drive [local] production” and customers should not expect a general price hike. 

“We asked [companies]: ‘Why don’t you start producing in Turkey?’ We want all components, including the added value, workmanship, and technology stages, to be completed in Turkey,” he said.