Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek made a statement at the Tourism Investment Forum in Istanbul. Minister Şimşek said that the strong decline in inflation will continue in 2025.
In his speech here, he made the following statements:
“In our geography, we are an important and fast-growing economy in the region, similar to the EU, the Customs Union, the common history in the Balkans, the Middle East. We have a much better performance than countries similar to us. Turkey is not only a large economy, but a fast-growing economy. We have prioritized infrastructure. We have invested 280 billion dollars in 20 years. This year, we will invest another 200 billion dollars.
Our multi-lane road network was very poor. The difference can be seen on the map. Our priority is railways. We have invested sufficiently in land and air routes. We will invest in high-speed electrified railways. One way to reduce carbon footprint is by rail transportation. Connecting OIZs to ports by rail is our top priority.
The share of renewable energy in total installed energy exceeded 59 percent. This is a tremendous progress, but we do not see it enough. We want the additional capacity to consist of nuclear and renewable energy.
Every year, 900 thousand people graduate from universities and 430 thousand people graduate from technical schools. We are at a better point than we targeted in many macro issues. Maybe we are faced with inflation as a problem area. The permanent decline in inflation will continue.
The current account deficit was a major problem in the middle of last year. It was difficult to maintain a current account deficit of 5.5 percent of national income. We reduced the current account deficit to below 1 percent and it is no longer a cause for concern. Permanently low current account deficit means stability of the lira. The current account deficit is around 4 percent on average over the last 20 years.
There were concerns about the reserve last year. We increased Turkey’s net reserves by approximately 105 billion dollars. Türkiye has sufficient reserves.
“INFLATION WILL CONTINUE STRONGLY IN 2025”
Disinflation is our top priority. This year it looks like we will close the year with a figure of around 44-45, it is slightly above our target. There is great rigidity in services inflation and it takes time to break it. The strong decline in inflation will continue in 2025. Reducing inflation to single digits is the most important item of our program. Fiscal policy will be tighter in 2025 and the budget deficit will decrease. There is a significant decrease in exchange rate volatility.
We need to move up the value added chain. We will support the 30 billion dollars we call HİT30 until 2030 and ensure the transformation in the industry.
We have spent more than 900 billion dollars on energy in the last 20 years. Energy transformation and green transformation are not a luxury for Türkiye. It is a necessity for us. “Our structural reform agenda is quite comprehensive.”
