Economic program on right track: Finance Minister Şimşek

ISTANBUL

The strong interest in Türkiye clearly shows that the economic program is progressing on the right track, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said, assessing his recent visit to the United States.

In the U.S., where he attended the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings, he held a series of investor meetings and bilateral talks, the minister wrote on social media platform X.

“During our meetings, we explained the results of our program and how we will realize our country's potential by making our program gains permanent,” Şimşek said.

At an event at the Brookings Institution, Şimşek made a presentation on the state of the Turkish economy.

“We project that inflation will declined to single digits at the end of 2026…Inflation is responding to the program we are implementing,” the minister said, adding that the decline in inflation will be beyond “the base effect.”

The lagged effect of monetary policy has started to kick in, according to Şimşek.

More supportive income policy will accelerate the disinflation process while the pricing behavior of firms has started to improve, he added.

Among the top officials Şimşek met with were U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President Ajay Gupta, as well as executives of the multilateral development banks.

Yellen wrote on X that she spoke with Şimşek and Turkish Central Bank Governor Fatih Karahan “about their serious economic reform agenda and the importance of countering sanctions evasion and terrorist financing.”

“Thanks to bold policy action, Türkiye is making good progress in bringing down inflation,” Georgieva said.