Economic program will be strengthened, says finance minister

The medium-term economic program is working and yielding the desired results, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has said, vowing to further strengthen the program. 

"We are determined to resolve Türkiye's macroeconomic problems," Şimşek said in a speech he delivered at the Uludağ Economy Summit.

He said that the government's priority is price stability and fiscal discipline, which supports price stability, adding that more decisive steps will be taken to reduce inflation.

Disinflation will be established in the second half of 2024, according to the minister.

The annual inflation rate accelerated from 67.07 percent in February to 68.5 percent in March, while the monthly inflation eased from 4.5 percent to 3.2 percent, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported earlier in April.

Additional steps will be taken to support the disinflation process and those measures will be mostly related to monetary policy and structural reforms, Şimşek said.

"We will reduce inflation with tight monetary and fiscal policy, revenues policies compatible with the targets, structural transformation and productivity increase," the minister said, adding that they will focus more on expenditures this year.

Work aimed at boosting public savings is about to be completed and some of its details could be announced, Şimşek noted.

The measures regarding public savings will start to be implemented in the second half of this year, according to the minister.

Starting from next year, the budget deficit will never exceed 3 percent of GDP, Şimşek said.

Tight monetary and fiscal policies will also help reduce the current account deficit, he noted, adding that a fiscal space will be created to weather shocks and for reforms in the...