President Erdoğan: "Annual inflation has been falling uninterruptedly for 11 months"

Noting that inflation has fallen for the last 11 months, President Erdoğan harshly criticized the "boycott" call made by CHP Chairman Özgür Özel during the İmamoğlu protests. President Erdoğan said, "They are disappointing 85 million people in order to please a handful of self-interested people whose names are associated with corruption and forgery. This is economic hitmanship, reporting, and snitching."

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the 28th Ordinary General Assembly of MÜSİAD held at the Haliç Congress Center.

In his speech here, President Erdoğan said, "We have achieved many things that were said to be impossible. We have realized many dreams. We have spoiled many games. We have torn up many dirty scenarios. We have overcome many obstacles, troubles and impossibilities. We have been patient and struggled. With the help of Allah, we have run from success to success. From now on, we will spoil every game and overcome every obstacle, God willing. I have always been proud to walk the path with you for 35 years. We have always supported MÜSİAD's struggle on behalf of our country, nation, democracy and human values. Our world is going through a critical process where painful and historical changes are experienced. Thank God, we left the health dimension of the Covid pandemic, which turned our lives upside down in many areas, behind 3 years ago. However, the tremors of the earthquake caused by the pandemic in the global economy are still continuing. Increasing protectionist policies in trade are getting stronger. The resistance in inflation, which reached the peaks of the last 60-70 years during the pandemic, has not been broken yet. "Fear of inflation has become the main determinant of economic policies in many countries of the world, including developed economies," he said. The global economy is trying to move forward in a stormy sea

Noting that the global economy is trying to move forward in a stormy sea, President Erdoğan said, “It is understood that the atmosphere of uncertainty will continue for a while due to the negative impact of the conflicts that flared up over customs tariffs. Risks and threats are increasing not only in the economy but also in a wide range from international relations to politics and social movements. We see that the global economy is trying to move forward in a stormy sea. It will take a little more time for the pieces to fall into place and the waters to calm down. We believe that making our projections accordingly will be the smartest choice for the near future. As the government, we have the plan, program, experience and willpower to safely bring the ship to port in stormy waters. We proceed calmly and patiently, regardless of the crises that erupt every day. We implement our decisions by calculating the pros and cons on a highly rational basis. We have strengthened the foundations of our economy with the stability and reform program we implemented two years ago. We have reduced our external fragility. We have increased our resistance to shocks. We have ensured macro financial stability. Thus, we have created a solid foundation for permanent and sustainable growth. One of the most important goals of the program is to relieve our citizens of the cost of living problem. We have made significant progress towards this goal in the last two years. Annual inflation has been falling uninterruptedly for 11 months. In April, we reached the lowest level in the last 40 months. Hopefully, more will follow," he said.

Informality is, first of all, unfair competition.

Stating that they will not be able to back down from the fight against informal economy, President Erdoğan said, "We are not compromising on our other priority, which is fiscal discipline. While rapidly healing the wounds of the earthquake, we are continuing the spending discipline and savings measures we initiated last year with the same determination this year. Informal economy has been at the top of our country's chronic problems for many years. Informal economy is unfair competition, first and foremost. The duty of the state is to protect those who pay their taxes properly and regularly, keep their accounts and books correctly, and conduct their business in accordance with the rules. Turning a blind eye to informal economy would be to violate the rights of these brothers of ours. Therefore, we cannot back down from the fight against informal economy. We expect you to support us in this regard. Thank God, the picture is positive in terms of external balance. Our current deficit is decreasing steadily. We have a current surplus when gold is excluded. The decline in oil prices is working in our favor. It is reducing both inflation and the external deficit. We are also at historic levels in terms of employment. Our unemployment rate decreased to 7.9 percent in March. This rate is 6.5 percent for men. For women, it is 10.6 percent. These figures indicate the lowest level in the last 20 years. I also find it useful to state the following. There may be temporary slowdowns in domestic and foreign demand depending on developments. These are quite natural. We neither ignore these nor get stuck on them. We continue on our path with a sustainable and inclusive growth target that goes beyond short-term fluctuations. We have successfully passed the test against the fluctuations experienced in the last 1.5 months. We have seen once again how resistant the program is to shocks, manipulative attacks and sabotage attempts. The operation of known circles exploded in their hands. Because our reserves started to increase again as of this week. With the decrease in global uncertainties, we will all witness that Türkiye is positively differentiating itself among developing countries," he said.

We offer advantageous investment loans

Noting that they maintain their commitment to our principle of quality growth, President Erdoğan said, "I would like to draw your attention to one issue in particular here. Investment, production, export, employment. Along with these, we maintain our commitment to our principle of quality growth. We do not leave any segment alone within the framework of these principles. As the state, we undertake a large portion of the financing expense in the loans used by our farmers, tradesmen, producers and exporters. We pay 7 liras of every 10 liras of financing expense in the loans used by our farmers. We also cover half of the financing expense in the loans of our tradesmen and exporters. 15 different treasury-backed guarantee packages are in effect for our SMEs. There is a 111 thousand billion lira opportunity here. We put 50 billion liras of this into operation in March and directed it primarily to our export companies. As you know, we implemented the advance loan program with investment commitment last year. In this direction, we determined 284 strategic products and allocated a total of 300 billion liras of resources. We offer extremely advantageous investment credits at one-third of the market financing cost to companies that want to produce these products. I hereby call on the MÜSİAD community to benefit from this. We have launched the HIT-30 program to make a breakthrough in high technology. Within the scope of the program, we will provide a total of $30 billion in support for investments to be made in 8 priority areas until 2030. Our call for battery, electric vehicle and chip investments is currently open. We will soon make new calls in the fields of biotechnology, data-centered industrial robots and green hydrogen. The MÜSİAD family should definitely be in these areas as well," he said.

Stating that they also have very strong support for our exporters, President Erdoğan said, "First of all, it should be understood very well that exports are not just foreign exchange income. Exports are production, employment, and prosperity. We increased the daily rediscount credit limit we provide to our companies by 13 times. We increased it from 300 million liras to 4 billion liras. We increased Eximbank's capital by 4 times. The financing cost of our rediscount credits is also well below the market. Here, we subsidize half of the financing cost. Thanks to this advantage alone, our exporters were saved from paying an additional cost of 171 billion liras in 2024. Our support is not limited to exports of goods. Both those who produce software and those who provide services in tourism feel the support of the state behind them. Eximbank provided financing of exactly 49 billion dollars to 18 thousand exporters in 2024. 83 percent of these companies are SMEs. We have already provided 15.7 billion dollars in the first 4 months of the year. I would like to state that whoever wants to produce, whoever wants to invest, "We stand by whoever does what and provides employment, and we will continue to do so," he said.

While trying to wear down the government, he is actually harming Türkiye.

Criticizing Republican People's Party Özgür Özel with harsh words, President Erdoğan said, "As in every period of our political life, today we are both doing business, serving and fighting smear campaigns. When we hope to see change in the opposition wing, at least on national issues, unfortunately we experience great disappointment every time. The opposition's desire to conduct politics with destructive hostility instead of gentlemanly competition constantly confronts us like an insurmountable wall. Even if the actors, names and chairmen change, unfortunately there is no improvement in this mentality in the slightest. The situation is so dire that the chair of the main opposition party of this country comes out and complains about his own country to foreign press organizations, foreign actors and magazines. While trying to wear down the government, he is actually harming Türkiye. He is harming the Turkish economy. He is harming local and national brands with boycott calls. He is harming my worker brothers who bring bread to their homes. He is harming our exporters who deliver Turkish products to all corners of the world. He is harming our industrialists who establish factories and provide employment. It is harming our business world that supports the development, growth and strengthening of our country. It is disappointing all 85 million people in order to please a handful of self-interested people whose names are associated with corruption, bribery and forgery. With all due respect, Mr. CHP Chairman, this is not opposition. It is economic hitmanship, reporting and snitching. We have no problems with CHP members reporting on each other, but we cannot close our eyes to their reporting on Türkiye with lies and slander. No one can complain about their own country to foreigners under the pretext of being in opposition. They cannot try to sink their economy. They cannot target our companies and seek to harm them. The scales have gone haywire. The hope for recovery is also gradually diminishing. I would like to express the following truth here with all my sincerity. Marginalizing politics is a great evil to be done to this country. There can be no justification for infecting civil politics with poisonous rhetoric. Let the government be wounded and no matter what happens to Türkiye and the Turkish economy, I am clearly stating the understanding, it is a sign of a sick mentality. Turkey knows this toxic political language very well since before 1960. Turkey knows this political style very well from March 12, September 12, February 28. Turkey knows these irresponsible and problematic discourses very well from the Gezi uprising, when the calls for "do not consume" reached their peak. This outdated style does not benefit our country, the political institution, or those who try to gain political gain through it. It is imperative for the CHP to normalize rapidly. The CHP needs to break the shackles of tutelage imposed on its will. Mr. Chairman must now get rid of the yoke of the criminal organization, pull himself together, and return to the real agenda of the country. From here, I invite everyone, especially the opposition actors, to common sense, calmness, and to do politics with a responsible language. Türkiye needs to embrace, not polarize. Türkiye needs to strengthen its domestic front. "Türkiye needs to come together on common ground with its 86 million people. We hope that the mistake of adding fuel to the fire will be reversed as soon as possible while tensions in our region and the world are so high," he said.

UAV

Editor: News Center