In his speech, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz stated that their economic and social priority was to reduce inflation. He emphasized that one of the greatest achievements of the AK Party in the past 20 years had been budget discipline, noting that inflation could not be reduced without controlling the budget deficit.
Despite the temporary effects of the earthquake, Yılmaz mentioned that they had kept the budget deficit under control and plan to reduce it to below 5% in 2024 and to 3% by 2025. In the long term, they aim to bring the rate down to 2.5%.
Yılmaz also highlighted that exports continued to rise, projecting $264 billion in exports by the end of 2024. He noted that tourism revenues played a key role in reducing the current account deficit, maintaining the expectation of $60 billion in tourism income and 60 million tourists by the end of the year. Additionally, he stated that the Central Bank’s reserves had been increased from $98.5 billion to $150 billion.
Yılmaz pointed out that Turkey’s risk premium had decreased, and credit rating agencies had raised the country’s credit score in response. He emphasized their commitment to advancing Turkey to a higher level through structural reforms during the current period without elections. Yılmaz stressed that Turkey had not had such an opportunity for many years, and this period should be fully utilized.
