Turkish economy resilient to global challenges, says VP Yılmaz

ANKARA

The Turkish economy has remained resilient despite the shocks in the global economy, says Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, reiterating that the government’s priority will bring down inflation to single digits.

The government spent some 762 billion Turkish Liras for the earthquake-related expenditure, while at the same time increased wages and social spending, Yılmaz told lawmakers in parliament during discussions on the additional budget.

“Our economy performed better in many indicators, chiefly in growth and job creation, compared with other countries’ economies despite the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. All this showed that our economy’s sustainable structure remained intact despite the February earthquakes,” he added.

According to leading indicators, exports climbed to $123.4 billion in the first six months, while travel revenues stood at a record high of $43.9 billion, Yılmaz said. “We are expecting record growth numbers in the upcoming period.”

Bringing down inflation back to single digits will be the government’s priority in the period ahead, he reiterated.

Yılmaz, however, cautioned against the risks to the current account deficit, but voiced optimism that the outlook will improve in the second half of the year.

The current account deficit this year will probably be higher than the gap forecast in the government’s medium-term program, said Yılmaz, citing gold imports and imported energy bill as the largest items contributing to the deficit.

The program initially forecast that the current account deficit would be 2.5 percent of GDP this year.

“The rolling 12-month gold imports amounted to $29.4 billion and energy imports stood at $72.1 billion. Excluding energy and gold, Türkiye posted a current account surplus of $41.5 billion.”