Mehmet Şimşek acknowledges poverty

Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek emphasized that price stability is the fundamental condition for achieving sustainable prosperity, arguing that the policies pursued by the government have made significant contributions toward reducing poverty and improving income distribution.

According to a report by the pro-government newspaper Türkiye Gazetesi, responding to written parliamentary questions from deputies regarding the economic program, Şimşek stated, “With the policies we have implemented during our governments, significant steps have been taken to reduce poverty and improve income distribution, and ensuring that all segments of society benefit from prosperity growth has been one of our primary goals. The prerequisite for achieving permanent prosperity growth is price stability. Thanks to the economic program implemented to establish price stability, a rebalancing in growth has occurred, the current account deficit has declined significantly, the risk premium has decreased, foreign capital inflows have accelerated, and reserves have increased. Thus, macro-financial stability has strengthened, and the disinflation process has begun”.

INCREASES ABOVE INFLATION

Claiming that steps have been taken to protect the purchasing power and welfare of citizens, Şimşek said that increases above inflation have been made to the salaries of employees and retirees.

Furthermore, stating that the minimum wage and the portion of all employees' wages up to the minimum wage level have been exempted from taxes to reduce the tax burden on wages, Şimşek said, “In the period between December 2002 and July 2025, a real increase of 621 percent was achieved in the lowest pension. With this real increase, the pensions of our retirees have been raised well above inflation, and their purchasing power has continued to be supported”.