Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek stated that he does not believe recent turbulence will have a lasting effect. Şimşek expressed that inflation has clearly decreased. Regarding developments in foreign trade, Şimşek stated, “We will be relatively less affected, as the domestic market is the determining factor for us.”

Minister Şimşek is speaking at the IV. Agriculture Forestry Council “Agricultural Economy Workshop” program in Ankara. Highlights from Minister Şimşek’s statements are as follows: A significant portion of exports, excluding rule-based countries, go to these types of geographies, so despite protectionism in foreign trade, we will be relatively less affected compared to countries similar to ours. Turkey’s dependency on exports is lower than similar countries. We have based our GDP growth on internal demand rather than export. The impact on us will be more limited compared to other countries, because the determining factor for us is the domestic market. We have free trade agreements with a total of 54 countries outside the US and EU, with 68% of exports going to these countries. Over 80% of our exports go to close and friendly countries. Turkey’s gross debt-to-GDP ratio is at 93%, well below the world average.

Our program has a goal; sustainable high growth and fair distribution, aiming for price stability, meaning bringing inflation down to single digits, and financial discipline to reach this goal. The essence of the program is a structural transformation program that will make the gains permanent. We are facing a serious inflation problem, but we first brought inflation under control. It was a control period, and we entered a period of disinflation from the second half of 2024.

There is success in disinflation, we are progressing close to the program. I do not believe recent turbulence will have a lasting impact.

There is rigidity in service inflation, we have increased the upper limit in rents by 25%, there is no intervention in education.

Inflation is clearly decreasing and will continue to do so because this is our top priority.

We aim to reduce the budget deficit.