Inflation to hit single digits in 2020: Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Nov. 16 said that interest rates will continue to fall and inflation is expected to hit single digits in 2020.

"Unfortunately, interest rates had increased to 40 percent. What happened? We removed the Central Bank chief and with our new governor the interest rates declined to 13.5 percent," Erdoğan said during a speech at a ceremony in Istanbul.

He also added that the decrease in interest rates will continue.

The former governor of Turkish Central Bank was relieved from duty with a presidential decree on July 6. Murat Çetinkaya, whose four-year term was due to run until 2020, was replaced by his deputy Murat Uysal.

"And the inflation rate will hit single digits in 2020," he said.

The rate of unemployment is also expected to decline, especially with the data of September, the president stressed.

"The unemployment rate, which we declined to 8.4 percent, increased to 14 percent after the exchange rate and inflation attack we have been subjected to [in Aug. 2018]. We expect this rate to start declining again with the September data," he said.

Erdoğan said that when the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power, Turkey's debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stood at $23.5 billion. 

"We closed this. Now, we do not have anything to do with the IMF," he said.

Erdoğan also underlined that both employment and production will increase as well.

"This means that [economic] growth will increase too," he added.

There is economic mobility in many fields, Erdoğan said. "Mobility has started; from the decline in interest rates to property and car sales."

"We are also having a fruitful season in tourism. It seems like the number of tourists will exceed 50 million," he said.

Erdoğan also underlined that Turkey has become an important destination for vacations.