Mehmet Şimşek

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan replaced the country's finance minister on Dec. 2.

According to a presidential decree issued near midnight, Erdoğan accepted the resignation of Lütfi Elvan and appointed his deputy Nureddin Nebati as the new finance minister.

Elvan had been in the role since November 2020.

Turkish Finance and Treasury Minister Lütfi Elvan gathered with top managers of German companies on July 13 for introducing investment opportunities in Turkey.

Recalling that the Turkish economy expanded by 1.8% in 2020, Elvan said preliminary data signals positive GDP results in 2021 for Turkey.

A group of parliamentarians from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) submitted a draft law to the parliament on April 2 that proposes raising the corporate tax in Turkey from current 20 percent to 25 percent this year and then to 23 percent next year.

The government has launched a series of meetings with the representatives of the business world to hear their suggestions and inform them on planned economic and judicial reforms.

Naci Ağbal, who previously served as minister and undersecretary at the Finance Ministry, has been appointed as presidential chief of strategy and budget.

Turkey is continuing its strong economic growth trend and the foundations of its economy are strong, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's son-in-law new Finance Minister Berat Albayrak was quoted as saying by state media on July 22.

Turkey's embattled lira slumped almost five percent to new record lows in value against the United States dollar on July 11, hit by worries about economic management and monetary policy under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's stronger executive presidency.

Turkey would not be affected significantly from the U.S-imposed tariffs, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek said on June 23, stressing that the U.S. is an important country but not an important trade partner of Ankara.

Turkey's Economic Coordination Committee, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, has taken steps to decrease the inflation rate to single digits, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said on June 6. 

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek defended Turkey's economic policies on June 2, a day after Moody's placed the country's rating on review for a downgrade and Fitch said it was monitoring its banks.