Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said Monday they see inflation falling below 50% in April and that the impact would be felt before the critical elections in May.
“Inflation will have slowed to notably below 50%,” Nebati told an interview with public broadcaster TRT. “As of May, this price relaxation will become much more noticeable.”
The consumer price index (CPI) for April will be announced on May 3, less than two weeks before presidential and parliamentary elections set for May 14.
An election manifesto by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling party pledges, among others, to bring stubborn inflation down to single digits.
Unveiling the reelection campaign, Erdoğan stressed last week the goal to lower it further from 50.5% registered in March.
Nevertheless, the March reading marked a notable regress compared to the peak of 85.5% – a 24-year high – registered last October.
Nebati said prices of basic foodstuffs follow a downward trend and stated that the declines would accelerate as of May.
The government has sought to safeguard households through various measures, significantly raising the minimum wage, lifting state salaries, offering debt relief and hiking pensions for millions.
Others included a cap on rent increases, reduced taxes on utility bills, unveiling a significant housing project for low-income families and the arrangement that eliminates an age requirement and offers early retirement to millions of citizens in the first stage.
The government’s economic policies have been centered on a model that was unveiled in 2021 and that prioritizes low-interest rates to boost exports, production, and investment and creates new jobs. Dubbed the Türkiye Economy Model, the program aims to lower inflation by flipping the country’s chronic current account deficit to a surplus.
Meanwhile, Nebati said the economy was recovering after the devastating February earthquakes, which killed over 50,000 people, razed hundreds of thousands of buildings, and ripped the southeastern region’s infrastructure.
He said the government had allocated around TL 100 billion ($5.16 billion) in regional funding right after the quakes.
“We took precautions early. We have used TL 40 billion of the allocated resource. We will continue to use it if necessary. We have no problems with resources in the earthquake zone,” he noted.
