Cevdet Yılmaz: Our 2028 target is clear: we will reduce inflation to single digits.

Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz attended the "Türkiye's 100 Fastest Growing Companies" program held at the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye (TOBB). Speaking at the event, Yılmaz said, "In the Medium-Term Program we prepared in 2023, we projected a $1.3 trillion economy, $15,000 per capita income, and single-digit unemployment by the end of this year. Our current position, our projections for the end of 2025, is that by the end of this year, the Turkish economy will exceed $1.5 trillion. Our per capita income will exceed $17,000, and for the first time in our history, we will have entered the league of high-income countries. In 2002, when the AK Party governments began, the Republic of Turkey had an economy in the lower-middle-income league. Over the past 22 years, we have consistently achieved upper-middle-income status, and now we have reached a new threshold. This is extremely valuable. This doesn't just mean a change in numbers. It indicates that Türkiye has entered a new era in every sense: from democratic standards to institutional capacity, from infrastructure to human resources."

"WE ARE IMPLEMENTING A DETERMINED POLICY"

Yılmaz noted that inflation is their most important problem, saying, "We have prioritized this in our programs. We are implementing a coordinated, multidimensional, and determined policy to reduce inflation. We are implementing a program that we integrate not only with monetary policies but also with fiscal policies and transformations. I would like to state that we have made significant progress. Our annual inflation rate in 2023 was 65 percent. Last year, this rate dropped to 44 percent. As of today, we have achieved a 42.5-point improvement. Our goal is to have an inflation rate below 30 percent by the end of the year, an inflation rate below 20 percent next year, and to bring our country back to single-digit inflation in 2027. We are maintaining our growth performance uninterruptedly. While the world economy grew around 3 percent in 2023, we grew by 3.3 percent. We have a growth performance of 3.6 percent in the first half of this year. We have been growing uninterruptedly on an annual basis for 15 years. Despite global turbulence, Türkiye has a very significant development trajectory." "within," he said. Yılmaz noted that exports reached 178 billion dollars in the first eight months of this year, and that they estimate that they will reach an export figure close to 274 billion dollars by the end of this year. He stated that the technological content of exports is increasing, with high-tech exports increasing by 17 percent and medium-high-tech exports by 10 percent in the first eight months of 2025.

'CONFIDENCE IN THE TURKISH LIRA HAS INCREASED'

Yılmaz stated that they have also made progress on the financial stability front, saying, "With our decisive policies, confidence in the Turkish lira has strengthened, and the Central Bank's gross reserves increased from $98.5 billion in May 2023 to $177.9 billion as of September 12, 2025. Furthermore, our CDS risk premium, which had reached 379 basis points due to global risks, decreased to 240 basis points as of September 19. During this period, confidence in the Turkish lira increased, exchange rate volatility was limited, foreign currency deposit demand was balanced, and the Currency-Protected Deposit system was gradually terminated as of August 29, 2025. Today, the CCC has decreased to $8.4 billion."

'OUR EARTHQUAKE EXPENDITURES ARE NOT MINOR'

Yılmaz stated that they maintained fiscal discipline with the same determination, keeping the budget deficit at 4.7 percent in 2024 despite the burden of the earthquake. He explained that 1.7 percent of this was due to earthquake expenses, and that the budget deficit-to-national income ratio was around 3 percent. He continued, "We estimate this deficit-to-national income ratio to be 3.6 percent in 2025. When you deduct earthquake expenses, this drops to 2.8 percent. Our earthquake expenses are not insignificant; 3.6 trillion lira. This translates to $90 billion. Türkiye provides this extra spending with its strong economy and budget."

"WE AIM TO INCREASE PER CAPITA INCOME TO 21,000 DOLLARS"

Recalling that they announced the Medium Term Program for the 2026-2028 period two weeks ago, Yılmaz said, "While placing macroeconomic stability and the fight against inflation at the center of the program, we have defined priority reform areas in a wide range of areas ranging from growth to trade, from price and financial stability to human capital and employment, from green and digital transformation to public finance and the investment environment. In this context, our target for 2028 is clear; we will permanently reduce inflation to single digits. We will reduce the current account deficit to around 1 percent. We will create an additional 2.5 million jobs in the next three years and we are acting with a perspective that will reduce the unemployment rate below 8 percent for the first time. By 2028, our goods exports will exceed 300 billion dollars, and our service exports, including 75 billion dollars from tourism, will exceed 150 billion dollars. We will reach a volume between 450-500 billion dollars in our foreign trade. We expect our national income to approach 1.9 trillion and our per capita income to 21 "We aim to reach the level of a thousand dollars," he said.

"WE WILL PROVIDE Türkiye WITH A FAVORABLE ENVIRONMENT FOR QUALIFIED INVESTMENTS"

Yılmaz also stated that they will transform the industry into a high-technology and innovative structure, stating: “By deepening the R&D and innovation ecosystem, we will strongly support private sector investments in strategic areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, the defense industry, biotechnology, and space technologies. We have placed green and digital transformation at the center of our development process. With low-carbon production, circular economy, and renewable energy investments, we will both increase our efficiency and achieve lasting improvements in our current account balance. We will strengthen the entire production and trade ecosystem, from organized industrial zones to logistics centers, from transportation lines to energy infrastructure, and support competitiveness by reducing costs. We will further strengthen our human capital, raise the quality of vocational and technical education, and direct our youth to critical technology areas. In short, with a more transparent and predictable regulatory framework, streamlined business processes, competitive investment opportunities, and investments focused on green-digital transformation, we will provide Türkiye with a much more favorable environment for qualified investments.”

"WE ARE striving to place our country in an advantageous position."

Yılmaz said, "We are well aware of the anxiety in our business community caused by the escalating conflicts in our region, the rising protectionism in the global economy, and the ongoing uncertainties. We are carefully analyzing the geopolitical risks that began with the Ukraine-Russia war, as well as the genocide in Gaza, and deepened by Israel's attacks on Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, and Syria. During this period, when the Turkish business world is struggling to navigate turbulent waters, we have once again witnessed the strength of our entrepreneurs in adapting and responding quickly to new conditions. We are witnessing our exporters transforming this turbulent environment into opportunities by expanding into different markets and developing new partnerships. We are closely monitoring this entire situation, assessing both the risks and the opportunities that may arise, and are working diligently to position our country in an advantageous position within the reshaping global system." Following Cevdet Yılmaz's speech, awards were presented to the owners of the 100 fastest-growing companies.

DHA

Reporter: News Center