Economy in Turkey: Financial discipline message from SIMSEK, Minister of Treasury

Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said, “We will not allow permanent deterioration in public finance indicators by bringing the budget deficit under control in the coming period and restoring fiscal discipline.”

After announcement of unbearable increases in taxes and other fees such as passport fee etc, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek shared a written statement via social media.

In his message he said, “In 2023, we made significant improvements that affected our 15.9 million pensioners and 4.9 million public employees. We have increased the welfare levels by making increases in monthly wages well above inflation. Compared to the end of 2022, we have increased the lowest civil servant salary by 141.8 percent and the lowest pension by 114.3 percent. In the coming period, we will not allow permanent deterioration in public finance indicators by bringing the budget deficit under control and restoring fiscal discipline. We are taking the necessary measures for this. We will support the Central Bank’s fight against inflation by strengthening the conformity between monetary policy and fiscal policy. We will also reduce the risk premium of our country by taking steps to reduce the current account deficit.”

Editor’s note: The targets SIMSEK has been appointed to achieve seem to be a bit of mission impossible” as it looks now. The first condition for him to be successful is that nobody should intervene (interfere) in measures he is to take. Nevertheless the situation would still look very difficult indeed with all wrong policies the government tried to implement in the past, right before Simsek came in. That is exactly why Simsek has been taking very strict financial measures, increases in fees and taxes and rates etc to put the budget in balance again.

… and the question at this point is: “Who is doing all the suffering, in this case?”
The answer is simple; Low-incomers and low-income families. They are the ones who are asked to take on all the unbearable burden