Today, speaking at the opening ceremony of the Konya-Karaman high-speed train line, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan promised to solve the problem of high prices and inflation in the country in the near future.

"The problem of high prices, interest and inflation worries our citizen. As soon as possible, this problem will also find its solution, as a solution to the exchange rate problem was found," Erdogan said during his speech, RIA Novosti reported.

Turkey’s financial system is going through hard times because of the depreciation of the national currency, the Turkish lira. It accelerated sharply after several consecutive cuts in the country's central bank's discount rate: on December 20, the dollar reached a record 18.4 lira, while in January last year it was worth 7.4 lira. However, following statements by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan about new measures to counter the volatility of the exchange rate, the lira jumped sharply in late December.

Nevertheless, inflation in Turkey increased by 13.58% in December, reaching 36.08% in 2021.

Erdoğan had previously stated that Ankara was determined to combat volatility in the foreign exchange market, and the end of the year with an export figure of $ 225 billion showed that Turkey was on the right track.

"Thanks to the package of economic measures, we managed to contain fluctuations in exchange rates. We hope that we will also be able to bring inflation under control in the shortest possible time, and then the country will get out of a situation that it does not deserve", the head of state said.

The Turkish president is in favor of cutting the discount rate, arguing that it will lead to lower inflation. He changed the head of the central bank three times since July 2019 and twice since November 2021 - the Minister of Finance. Opposition leaders accused Erdoğan of economic incompetence and called for early elections. The Turkish leader rejected the call, saying that the presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey will take place as planned in June 2023.

Source - vesnikkavkaza.net

10 January 2022 / 11:18