Turkish government downgrades its forecast for GDP growth and inflation – Kommersant

The Turkish authorities have revised their forecasts for the country’s economic growth, informs Bloomberg. According to Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, GDP in 2023 will grow by 4%, not 5%, as the authorities had previously expected. Growth is expected to be 4% in 2024, not 5.5%.

In August, the year-on-year inflation rose faster than expected to 58.9%. Because of this, the government expects inflation at the end of the year at 65% instead of 25%, as previously forecasted. At the same time, the Central Bank of Turkey expects that inflation will slow down to 33% next year and to 15% in 2025.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today that “tight monetary policy” is needed to slow inflation. On August 24, the Central Bank of Turkey raised the key rate by 750 basis points at once – from 17.5% to 25%.

Bloomberg notes that Mr. Erdogan repeatedly resorted to monetary stimulus before the elections in the country. In 2024, elections will be held in Turkey at the regional and city levels. Especially important, the agency notes, for the incumbent president will be the election of the mayor of Istanbul – in 2019, opposition politician Ekrem Imamoglu became the head of the country’s largest city.

More details – in the text “Kommersant” “Turkish stake rushed to new heights”.

Petr Buzlaev