ISTANBUL — Supermarkets have begun pulling vegetables from their shelves rather than risk the wrath of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has accused them of price gouging amid an economic downturn, newspapers reported.

Inflation is stuck above 20% after a currency crisis erupted in August over worries about Turkey’s overheating economy and diplomatic sparring with the United States. Since then, Erdogan has bullied businesses into lowering prices and banks into reducing interest on loans ahead of nationwide municipal elections in March, when the rapidly slowing economy could sap support for his party.

Some economists argue such interventions amount to de facto price controls and fail to address the root causes of Turkey’s economic turmoil, such as staggering corporate debt. Other measures launched by the government to lower prices have included tasking police with scrutinizing prices on market shelves and sending inspectors on surprise visits to warehouses to check for hoarding.

“If these grocery stores continue to exploit my people, it is my duty to hold them to account, and I will,” Erdogan told a meeting of businessmen on Jan. 26. “This isn’t commerce, this isn’t making money. It is opportunism, hypocrisy, usury. It is even treason against the nation,” he said.