Cevdet Yılmaz, at the Aksaray Business World Meeting held in a hotel, said that Turkey achieved single-digit inflation for a long time and achieved the highest growth, improvements in income distribution and social welfare in those periods.
“WE REDUCED OUR CURRENT DEFICIT”
Stating that they expect the same thing as a result of these policies, Yılmaz said, “We continue our policies towards an environment where more stable, sustainable high growths and social welfare increase permanently. Most importantly, during the transition process, we reduced our current account deficit and reduced our need for foreign currency. Our current account deficit will be 40 percent at the end of 2023.” It was at the level of .5 billion dollars and corresponded to 3.6 percent of our national income. As a result of the policies we implemented, we have reached a current account deficit of less than 10 billion dollars. “It’s less than 1 percent of our income right now.” he said.
Yılmaz stated that export revenues have a great impact on this, and on the other hand, they expect to close the income from tourism with 60 billion dollars this year.
“OUR GOODS AND TRADE BALANCE HAS IMPROVED”
Stating that the annualized tourism income reached 58.8 billion dollars as of October, Yılmaz said, “With the effect of all these, our current account balance has improved much. What does this mean? It is a development process that requires less foreign financing and foreign savings. Our exports were announced by our President yesterday.” 2024 goods exports reached 262 billion dollars by the end of the year, and we achieved the highest figure in the history of our Republic as of the end of last year. This also resulted in a slight decrease in our imports. “It improved our balance, our trade balance.” he said.
Yılmaz said that the labor market and employment are very important and employment continues to increase.
“WE WILL FOLLOW EMPLOYMENT-FRIENDLY POLICIES”
Referring to unemployment and employment figures, Yılmaz said, “Our unemployment rate in October 2024 is 8.8 percent. If you look from October 2024 to October 2023, it increased by 1 million 31 thousand people, reaching 32 million 970 thousand people. This is a historical peak. It is very pleasing. Because the increase in employment is both economic and economic.” “It is very valuable both in social terms and we will continue to pursue employment-friendly policies, especially in the employment of young people and the employment of women.” gave his information.
Yılmaz reminded that 3.2 percent growth was achieved in the economy in the first three quarters of 2024, and stated that in the Medium Term Program, they predict that the growth will be close to the target with 3.5 percent in 2024.
“THIS YEAR’S GROWTH TARGET IS 4 PERCENT”
Pointing out that there is a 4 percent growth target this year, Yılmaz continued his words as follows:
“Again, a balanced, qualified growth. We aim for a growth rate of increasing rates in the following years, such as 4.5, 5 years. I would also like to underline this: In an environment where you reduce inflation and ensure price stability, you also lay the groundwork for sustainable and stable growth. Stability with growth in the short term.” When you look at the medium term, the environment where price stability is achieved is very important for the growth and investment environment, because it improves the investment environment and strengthens confidence. “It is also very important in terms of sustainable growth. We have a Medium Term Program that extends to 2027. By 2027, our expectation is that our national income will reach 1.8 trillion dollars and our per capita income will exceed 20 thousand dollars.”
