Gov’t to allocate over 3 tln liras to quake-hit regions: VP Yılmaz

KIRŞEHİR

The government will spend more than 3 trillion Turkish Liras ($110 billion) on the earthquake-hit regions until 2026, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz has said.

The earthquakes in February hit 11 southern provinces, killing more than 50,000 people and causing massive material damage.

“It was an unprecedented disaster, affecting more than 11 million citizens. But we will head the wounds from the earthquakes,” Yılmaz said during a visit to the province of Kırşehir.

The earthquake-related spending will be particularly large this year, according to Yılmaz.

“Some 762 billion liras will be allocated from the central government budget in 2023. In total, 3 trillion billion liras will be spent on those regions during the medium-term until 2026.”

The government will be able to shoulder this burden easily, he added.

Yılmaz reiterated that the government targets to lower the inflation down to 8.5 percent in 2026.

“As is the case in other countries, we are also going through a difficult period, and this is particularly true for the cost of living. However, we are going to overcome this problem gradually,” Yılmaz said.

Yılmaz acknowledged that inflation is on the rise this year but said this is a transition period.

“Starting next year, we will gradually return to single-digit inflation. We are forecasting a downward trend in inflation in the coming years.”

The size of the Turkish economy will exceed $1 trillion this year, according to Yılmaz.

In the new medium-term program, the government’s target is to create an economy larger than $1.3 trillion in size and achieve a per capita income of around $15,000 in 2026.