Interest rate cuts will continue, vows Erdoğan

BALIKESİR

Interest rate cuts will continue, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed, calling on investors to benefit from cheaper loans being offered by state banks.

“As long as this brother of yours remains in office, the interest rate will continue to decline with each passing day, and each passing month. Nobody should advise us on this,” Erdoğan said at a ceremony marking the inauguration of several projects in the western province of Balıkesir.

He called on investors to take out loans from state-owned banks.

“When I was the prime minister, we brought inflation down to 6.4 percent, and the interest rate was cut to 4.6 percent. We did this. Hopefully, we will sort out this matter. We will not take any step which poses risks to the country or cause irreparable damages,” Erdoğan added, noting that the government is fighting the price fluctuations and working to increase people’s income in line with price levels.

The Central Bank cut the policy rate - one-week repo auction rate - from 13 percent to 12 percent at the Monetary Policy Committee meeting last month. The committee will hold three more rate-setting meetings, this month, in November and December, until the end of this year.

The world is going through the most difficult period since World War II and the global political and economic balances of power have been shaken to their foundations, the president said.

“The economic and social challenges, triggered by the pandemic and the war, are increasingly becoming the indications of more drastic changes. And this situation inevitably affects our country.”

Türkiye, however, had predicted those developments in advance due to the attacks it has been faced with and the challenges it has been dealing with in the past eight to nine years, Erdoğan said. “This is what makes Türkiye different.”

“Thanks to the infrastructure we have built, the measures we have taken and the mechanisms we have implemented, we are keeping the repercussions of global crises on our country to the minimum. What is more, we take steps that will set an example to the world in many areas.”

The government is implementing with determination the economic program, which is focused on investment, employment, production, exports and current account surplus,” he added.

The production outlook is very promising, employment reached an all-time high of 31 million people and exports are breaking records each month, Erdoğan said.

Noting that excessive increases in energy costs and intermediate goods imports are impacting the foreign trade balance, he said, “But, Türkiye has the potential to make up for this [foreign trade imbalance] in the future.”