Minimum wage statement from Mehmet Şimşek! He gave a raise rate...

Budget negotiations are continuing at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM).

Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek gave a presentation regarding his ministry's 2025 budget at the TBMM General Assembly.

Arguing that a noticeable slowdown in inflation has begun and that this decline will continue in 2025, Şimşek also shared salary increase and inflation data for 2023 and 2024.

"MINIMUM WAGE WILL LIKELY REMAIN ABOVE INFLATION"

Emphasizing that they are always on the side of employees and retirees, Şimşek stated that improvements have been made to salaries and wages, and that increases have been made above inflation. Giving examples regarding this, Şimşek made the following assessments: "We have not allowed our employees and retirees to be crushed by inflation, and we will not allow it. Our goal in this program is in this direction; it has not changed. Inflation is currently 47 percent, and it will likely be 45 percent by the end of the year. The lowest civil servant salary increase this year is 78 percent. That is 1.7 times the inflation rate. The lowest pension increased by 68 percent, which is 1.5 times the inflation rate. The minimum wage will also likely remain above inflation."

Minister Şimşek stated that the minimum wage would also likely show an increase above inflation, saying, “We have not allowed our employees and retirees to be crushed by inflation, and we will not allow it.”

Claiming that students, youth, the disabled, seniors over 65, farmers, tradesmen, artisans, employees, retirees, and all segments of society are included in the budget, Şimşek continued his words as follows:

"We have made significant progress in strengthening the foundations. We know and accept that there are no easy solutions to the challenges we face in the global economy and the structural problems in our country. We have a program that we are implementing to solve these problems, and we will continue to implement it with determination. Because our goal is to establish macro-financial stability on one hand, and of course, to solve fundamental problems on the other. We will increase investment, employment, and exports by using our resources more efficiently. Inflation is not a new problem. It was a problem in the 70s, 80s, and 90s as well. We had reduced it to single digits during the AK Party era, and we will reduce it to single digits again."