Turkey will see inflation in single digits by mid-2023: Minister

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Turkey will see inflation in single digits by mid-2023: Minister

Finance minister says inflation will fall to single digits.

Turkey's only problem now is high inflation minister Adds minister's quotes, Erdogan's comments, background ISTANBUL, January 15, Reuters - Turkey's annual inflation rate will be in single digits by the time presidential and parliamentary elections are scheduled for mid- 2023, Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said on Saturday.

In December of last year, inflation hit a 19 year high of 36% after the central bank slashed interest rates under pressure from President Tayyip Erdogan, which caused a currency crisis that led to the lira shedding 44% of its value in 2021.

Nebati said to heads of non-governmental organisations in Istanbul that Turkey's only problem is high inflation and the volatility in the lira's exchange rate had settled.

We will enter the election with fiscal policies and the steps that we will take. Nebati said that the inflation would be single-digit next year.

We will experience, see the change after the first quarter of 2022, he said about inflation.

Despite government officials promising to bring inflation down quickly, economic analysts say it could surpass 50% in the coming months and remain elevated through the year.

The currency crisis stopped last month because of government incentives and costly currency interventions to reduce the appeal of the dollar to savers.

Turks snatched up hard currencies as the lira fell to record lows against the dollar, and Turkish locals' forex and gold holdings hit a new record high of $238.97 billion in December before they fell slightly to $234.3 billion by January 7.

Nebati said on Saturday that the conversion of holdings to Turkish lira will accelerate in the coming weeks.

There is a decline in forex deposit accounts. He said that the central bank's reserves will rise as well as the declining trend in the forex deposit accounts.

Nebati said that more than 131 billion lira had been deposited in accounts under the government scheme that protects lira deposits from forex depreciation as of Friday night.

Erdogan said in the western province of Aydin that the lira protection scheme had spoiled foreign economic attacks. They targeted our economy in the last few years. He said they made countless efforts to create an economic crisis that was followed by political and social chaos.

Turkey is aiming for $35 billion in tourism revenues this year and $250 billion in exports, according to Erdogan.