ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and economic czar Mehmed Simsek vowed earlier this month to continue efforts to tackle persistent inflation despite the risk of public anger over the Turkish government’s management of the economy. Ta. Many say this economic management was a major disappointment, or rather a key factor behind the debacle. –Last month’s local opinion polls showed the ruling party trailing the main opposition party by a wide margin.
Simsek was appointed Minister of Finance and Finance after President Erdoğan’s re-election in May 2023 and was tasked with resolving the economic woes caused by President Erdoğan’s unconventional low interest rate policies, chief among them runaway inflation. However, local opinion polls were scheduled for March 31st on the calendar at the time, monetary tightening to control prices continued to be restrained, and election-oriented populist movements continued, resulting in last month’s consumer inflation rate. reached 68.5%.
Barring early opinion polls, Turkey’s next presidential and parliamentary elections are now four years away, and a focus on inflation appears to be a priority for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “We will make it clear [of] Populist policies will impose costs on our country, our nation and future generations.of [positive] “The fruits of our economic plan, especially on the inflation front, will start to bear fruit in the second half of this year,” he said in the early hours of April 1, after the previous day’s poll results were released.
Simsek was also quick to commit to fighting inflation, a message that foreign market participants in particular were keen to hear. “To achieve our main goal of sustainably reducing inflation to single digits, we will implement monetary tightening, selective credit and income policies, as well as curbing public sector spending and prioritizing savings,” he said.
