Fighting inflation to be Turkey's top agenda in 2020, minister says

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

Turkey will stabilize the inflation rate at single digits by improving competition in goods and services markets and enhancing production, the country's treasury and finance minister said Jan. 3.

"Fight against inflation will be our top agenda in 2020," Berat Albayrak said on Twitter, underlining the year-end inflation rate was below the government's target.

Albayrak's comments came after the Turkish Statistical Institute announced that the country's inflation rate last month was 11.84 percent.

Turkey's inflation rate is expected to hit 12 percent this year as laid out in the new economic program for 2020-2022 announced by the government this September.

Citing the country's export figures for 2019, Albayrak added that the government will continue to back producers and allocate resources for growth based on exports and value-added production.

Turkey's exports rose 2.04 percent year-on-year to reach $180.46 billion in 2019, hitting a historic high, Trade Ministry data showed on Jan. 3.