Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak is set to present the nation's first budget under the new presidential system to Parliament's Planning and Budget Commission today.
The 2019 budget marathon will last at least two months. The budget will be debated in the committee until Nov. 22. The debate will continue at the general assembly in early December, where a heated exchange is expected ahead of the upcoming local elections on March 31. Emrullah İşler, head of Parliament's Education, Culture, Youth and Sports Committee, on Monday expressed his "pleasure" for the budget's share earmarked for education.
İşler said the share allocated to education has fractionally increased since President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power in 2002.
"The share that was allocated to education was 6.95 percent in 2002. With the increasing general budget, the share allocated to education [has] increased to 12 percent for 2019," İşler told Anadolu Agency (AA).
"The size of the share allocated to education made us happy," he said.
The 2019 budget aims to allocate TL 114 billion ($20.1 billion) for educational expenses. Turkey targets TL 949 billion in expenditures for public agencies and TL 867.29 billion in general revenue in 2019.
The Turkish economy grew by 5.2 percent between April and June, preceded by figures of 7.3 percent in the first quarter of 2018, 7.3 percent between October and December 2017 and 11.5 percent in the third quarter of 2017.
Ankara targets 3.5 percent growth in 2020 and 5 percent by 2021, according to the new economic program announced by Albayrak on Sep. 20.
