Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz on Tuesday presented details of the government budget proposal for the upcoming year, highlighting the earlier medium-term plan it had prepared and said it would prioritize construction, revitalization and Türkiye’s growth in all sectors.
"Our priority is to rebuild our cities destroyed by the earthquakes," Yılmaz said, vowing to overcome the cost of living issue with "realistic and grounded policies."
Türkiye has allocated TL 1.03 trillion ($37 billion) in its 2024 draft budget to meet the cost of earthquake-related damage and the needs of people in the region, Yilmaz said at a news conference in the capital Ankara.
Despite the slowdown in global economic activities and the effects of the early February earthquakes, they expect economic growth at 4.4% for 2023; Yılmaz said they foresee the economy expanding at 4% next year.
"For 2024, we expect our economy to grow by 4% with a more balanced demand composition," he noted.
The vice president recalled the positive streak in growth that continued for 12 consecutive quarters, noting Türkiye, which grew by 3.9% in the first half of 2023, has differentiated itself positively among the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries.
Yılmaz recalled that the medium-term program was put forward at the beginning of September, and the legal process for public institutions and organizations to prepare their budgets has started accordingly.
He also stated that the 12th Development Plan was presented to Parliament on Monday, having received the endorsement of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Subsequent discussions on the Development Plan will be held on Oct. 23-24 by the Parliament’s Planning and Budget Commission.
The plan’s vision for the 2024-2028 timeframe aspires to create a "stable, strong, prosperous, environmentally friendly and disaster resistant Türkiye that produces high added value based on advanced technology and sustains fair income distribution in the 'Century of Türkiye.'"
12th Development Plan
"We have completed our 12th Development Plan, which we are working on with the 2053 vision and (which) sets out the roadmap for Türkiye’s next five years," Erdoğan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Highlighting that the plan is set to be presented to Parliament, the president said it consists of five main axes, including: qualified people, strong families and healthy society; stable growth and a strong economy; competitive production with green and digital transformation; disaster-resistant living spaces and sustainable environment; and democratic governance based on justice.
Furthermore, the president said they aim for a stable and balanced growth of 5% on average.
"We aim to reach a national income of $1.59 trillion and income of $17,554 per capita in 2028," he added.
He also noted the aim of boosting employment at an annual average of 3% and reducing inflation to single digits.
"We aim to permanently reduce inflation to single digits and reduce it to 4.7% by the end of 2028," the president noted.
Next year’s budget
"In the 2024 Central Government Budget, it is estimated that budget spending will be TL 11.08 trillion while the budget revenues will stand at TL 8.44 trillion," the vice president said.
Describing the budget as being prepared considering "resilient cities, resilient economy and resilient society" as priorities, Yılmaz said another key priority includes strengthening coordination between fiscal and monetary policies.
"Another key priority is contributing to the goal of ensuring macro-financial and price stability within an approach that focuses on fiscal discipline and strengthens coordination between fiscal and monetary policies," he said.
Detailing in which directions the budget would be allocated, Yılmaz noted that with 14.6%, the largest share is set to be directed to education.
"With the increasing number of universities and students, we are constantly increasing the resources we allocate to our universities. We are increasing the budgets of higher education institutions to TL 345.8 billion in 2024," he said.
"When we include higher education, we are raising our education budget to TL 1.61 trillion in 2024," Yılmaz added.
Furthermore, envisioning the concept of social state and taking in forefront welfare, the vice president said they also bolstered resources for the upcoming year.
"The social aid and support, which stood at TL 1.6 billion in 2002, will be increased to TL 497 billion in the 2024 budget," he said.
According to Yılmaz, the government aims to achieve its export targets and further boost the figure in 2024.
"We aim to achieve a performance above the previous year with exports of over $255 billion in 2023 and reach the figure of $267 billion for 2024," he said.
"Our budget has a comprehensive and inclusive development approach that supports investment, employment, production, and exports. It is based on the principle of sharing opportunities provided by stable growth with all segments of society in a human-centered and welfare-enhancing approach," he explained.
Despite challenges posed by the pandemic and global headwinds, tourism revenues have maintained an intense course thanks to the effective policies implemented, Yılmaz said, adding they continue to make a substantial contribution to the current balance.
"With the positive performance of our tourism sector, we expect our tourism revenues to reach $49 billion by the end of the year and $52.5 billion in 2024 with the continuation of the upward momentum, reaching new records," he noted.