Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz makes statement on inflation

Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz attended the "Bursa Business World Meeting" held at the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In his speech there, Yılmaz made assessments regarding the economy. 

Stating that they are trying to develop the country's growth in a healthy way by making consumption more moderate and strengthening investment and exports, Yılmaz said, "We anticipate that with the continuation of a growth composition where domestic and foreign demand are balanced in 2024, employment and private sector investments will increase, and the service sector and industrial sector will continue to contribute to our economic growth. Price stability is very important. Fighting inflation is our main priority in this period. We aim to reduce inflation while maintaining our growth at a certain reasonable level. We have to observe various balances simultaneously," he stated.

"WE WANT TO REDUCE INFLATION"

Explaining that there is a gradual loss of momentum in inflation on a monthly basis, Yılmaz said, "Our institutions are doing what is necessary to achieve our annual targets. Therefore, as I said, while we continue our growth and employment on one hand, we also want to reduce inflation on the other. Because we believe in this: both permanent prosperity growth and sustainable growth are related to price stability," he spoke.

Yılmaz touched upon the fight against inflation with these words:

"Our people say today, 'prioritize the fight against inflation.' They see this as the most important problem area. Therefore, we say 'our people's problem is our problem' and we have prioritized this. You will see, we will reduce inflation step by step. We will see the annual effects, the monthly loss of momentum in inflation more clearly in the coming months, but we will see the annual effect in the second half of the year. We will see it starting with the June inflation figures. Then, hopefully, we will all see a significant decline in inflation throughout the year, in the second half of the year. In 2025, our target for inflation is to decline to the 15 percent level. In 2026, we will reach single-digit inflation again. We are determined here. We are not saying this just for the sake of it. We have made our plan and program accordingly. We will reach this goal step by step"

Yılmaz stated that they anticipate the 12-month current account deficit will decrease to 32-33 billion dollars by February, and underlined that the Turkish economy is also performing very well in exports.

Explaining that the employment rate has reached the 49 percent level, Yılmaz said, "This is a historic level for Turkey. For the first time, we are experiencing a period where such a high level of the workforce is employed. I would like to express that the increase in women's employment plays an important role here. Our total employment has risen to the level of 32 million 222 thousand," he said.

Stating that Turkey is heading to local elections, Yılmaz said, "We are going to local elections, we are not holding general elections. In general elections, the parliament is determined, the government is determined. Policies at the national level are of course affected by general elections. This is a very natural thing, but local elections are not elections related to national policies. They are elections related to the local, common services of our people. Claims that macro policies will change after local elections are completely speculative. Our policies are clear; after the elections last May, with the very strong ownership and will of our President, and with the joint effort and work of all of us, we announced our medium-term program and we are implementing it decisively, and we will continue to do so" he assessed.

Explaining that they continue to heal the wounds of the Kahramanmaraş-centered earthquakes, Yılmaz also provided information to business people regarding new monetary policies.

Stating that they are taking steps to create lower-cost credit, especially for investors and exporters, he said, "Our fiscal space is limited due to the earthquake burden in the budget, but as our fiscal space expands, we are with our business world. We will continue to support our qualified investors and exporters in particular. We will continue to support them with selective financing mechanisms" he spoke.

Emphasizing that a country that carries out structural reforms will look to the future with more confidence, Yılmaz said, "Therefore, we believe that these reforms will add strength to our economy not only with their concrete effects but also with the effects they will create through the expectation channel, and will support Turkey in getting a larger share of the capital mobility that we expect to increase towards developing countries, especially starting from the middle of this year," he said.

News Source: 12punto