President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he would be setting up a reputable finance management team late Sunday, as he termed inflation the most urgent issue after an election victory that lengthened his rule into a third decade.
Erdoğan won a new five-year mandate by securing 52.2% of the vote in the presidential runoff, compared to rival Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu's 47.8%, according to preliminary results.
Addressing supporters in a victory speech, Erdoğan said, "Now is the time to put the disputes and conflicts of the election period to one side and unite around our national goals."
The president has stressed he would remain committed to his low interest-rate economic blueprint after the vote and said inflation, which hit a 24-year peak of 85% last year before easing, is Türkiye's most critical problem.
Türkiye has been struggling with high inflation that has undermined the purchasing power of its citizens, as well as a steep depreciation in the Turkish lira. In response, the government adopted a strategy based on reducing borrowing costs to combat rising prices and stimulate economic growth.
Türkiye is also trying to emerge from the effects of devastating earthquakes that ripped through the country's southeastern region in early February.
The rationale behind the government's economic program is to stimulate domestic demand, boost investment and consequently drive economic growth. In addition, it insists that the program, unveiled in 2021, can help flip the country's chronic current account deficits to a surplus.
Erdoğan late Sunday said inflation was the country's most urgent issue, but it would also fall, following the central bank's policy rate cut to 8.5% from 19% two years ago.
"Eliminating the problems caused by price increases spurred by inflation, compensating for welfare losses is the most urgent topic of the coming days," he told his supporters at his palace in Ankara.
Erdoğan said they would build a "strong economic management on the concept of trust and stability."
"We are designing an economy focused on investment and employment, with a finance management team that has an international reputation," he added.
Erdoğan has promised to spend whatever is necessary to reconstruct the southeastern region leveled by the Feb. 6 tremors that killed more than 50,000 people and caused extensive destruction across 11 provinces.
"Healing the wounds of the Feb. 6 earthquakes, the disaster of the century, and getting our destroyed cities back on their feet will continue to be at the top of our priorities," he said.
In addition to these efforts, the president has increased public-sector wages, boosted pensions, allowed early retirement for millions, introduced subsidies for electricity and gas and wiped out some household debt.
"It is not difficult to heal the wounds of the earthquake and to eliminate the problems caused by inflation; we have proved this by lowering the interest rate," Erdoğan said.
"Currently, the interest rate has been reduced to 8.5%, and you will see that inflation will also come down."
The inflation has moderated over the last six months and lastly eased to an annual 43.68% in April, almost halving from 85.51% in October.
