Photo : Collected
The Turkish government is planning to improve its control over public spending and reduce inflation "to single digits" as the difficult economic situation in the country is believed to be the main reason for the failure of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) at local elections, Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Monday (1 April).
Turks went to the polls on Sunday to elect mayors of 81 cities, including 30 megacities, heads of municipalities, village and district heads, and village councils. Turkey's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) is in the lead in 35 cities, while the ruling AKP has secured only 24 cities after processing 99.9% of the ballots. The opposition mayors of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir retained their posts.
"Let the results of the local elections be favorable to our people and our country. We will keep cementing and strongly implementing our Medium-Term Program (MTP), which we announced in September 2023. In addition to a firm monetary policy, selective lending and profit policy, we will prioritize saving by controlling government spending to cut inflation to single-digit numbers forever, which is our main goal," Simsek wrote on X in his first post-election statement.
Through structural reforms to be implemented under the relevant MTP timetable, the Turkish authorities are planning to carry out economic changes, increase production capacity and competitiveness, the minister added.
"Therefore, a constant prosperity increase, which we will ensure after achieving the goal of sustainable development, will be a legacy of all sectors of society," he added.
In February, Turkey's central bank kept its inflation forecast for the end of 2024 at 36%, while the finance minister estimated that consumer price growth would fall to 34% by that time.
Messenger/Mumu
