Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said on Wednesday the government would charge higher import taxes on over 800 goods to shield local producers from competition during the coronavirus pandemic, NTV reported.

Turkey will impose additional taxes of up to 30 percent on products including construction equipment, cranes, agricultural machinery, iron and steel products, contact lenses, marble, granite, television receiver devices, semi-finished leather products and spare automobile parts, which will be in place through Sept. 30, according to NTV.

“Except for strategic products and goods that cannot be produced (in Turkey), imports will not be easy. Some people have tried to turn our country into an import paradise during this period,” Gazete Duvar quoted Albayrak as saying.

Turkey charges a customs tax of 18 percent for items arriving from EU countries and 20 percent for items arriving from non-EU countries.

Turkey last month imposed additional taxes between 2.3 percent and 45 percent on a wide range of industrial products from electronics to textile goods.

Source: ahvalnews.com