Authorities will continue to "strongly" implement a disinflation policy to lower inflation, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz said Saturday, evaluating the path of inflation progress and the recent declines.
Referring to the fight against inflation as the "top priority," Yılmaz said: "At this point, I can say that our program has produced successful results and has begun to bear fruit."
"We had said that our fight against inflation would consist of three periods. A transition period, then a disinflation period, then a permanent price stability period," he told the business meeting in central Aksaray province.
"We completed the transition period as of June of last year. We entered a disinflation period as of June," he said.
"There was a decrease in inflation exceeding 31 points from June to the end of the year," he added.
He went on to say that December inflation was around 1%, referring to a month-on-month increase. "We also completed annual inflation at around 44.4%. There is a decrease of 20 points compared to the year-end inflation of the previous year," he explained.
His statements came a day after the official data showed that annual inflation stood at 44.4% in December, below the market estimates and close in line with the final projection of the Turkish central bank.
"Our fight against inflation continues. This fight will continue in 2025. We will continue our disinflation policy strongly. As a result, we will carry our country to much lower inflation rates," said the vice president.
"This is very important and valuable in every respect, from the perspective of permanent social welfare, improving income distribution and growth," he noted.
Yılmaz also said that in the past, Türkiye achieved single-digit inflation for a long time and achieved the highest growth and improvements in income distribution and social welfare during those periods.
Stating that they expect the same due to these policies, Yılmaz said, "We continue our policies toward more stable, sustainable high growth and an environment where social welfare increases permanently."
"Most importantly, in the transition process, we reduced our current deficit and need for foreign exchange. Our current deficit was at the level of $40.5 billion at the end of 2023 and corresponded to 3.6% of our national income. As a result of the policies we implemented, we have reached a current deficit below $10 billion and is below 1% of our national income," he stated.
Separately, in a meeting with economy reporters in Istanbul, the vice president also hinted at a new study for the minimum pension in the country.
Asked about the views on the increase in pensions, Yılmaz said that it would not be right to compare the minimum wage rate with the increase rate for retirees.
He also noted that rises in pensions and increases in salaries for officers occur every six months, reminding that this would again be renewed in July.
"We think it is not right to keep the minimum as it is while other wages are increasing. We will conduct a study and a legal regulation will probably come to the agenda, I think this will happen in January," he said.
