CORRECTS - Turkish president vows to end scourge of interest, inflation

REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE; SMALL EDIT CHANGES IN BODY

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s president said Wednesday he would end the scourge of interest from the nation.

“Those who defend interest among our friends should not take offense. I cannot and will not be with the one who defends interest,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Justice and Development (AK) Party's parliamentary group meeting.

“As long as I am in this position, I will continue my fight against interest and inflation until the end,” Erdogan said.

“On this issue, the commandment (of Allah) is clear. We will look at the issue from this point of view and will take our steps accordingly,” he said.

“Interest is the cause, and inflation is the effect,” he added, reiterating a frequent motto.

The president has championed interest rate cuts as a way to spur domestic economic growth.

Last month, Turkey's Central Bank lowered its one-week repo rate – also known as the policy rate – by 200 basis points from 18% to 16%.

Erdogan said a bright future awaits Turkey "if we can leave 2022 and 2023 behind without causing any break."

“Developed countries are on the verge of the greatest economic depression since World War II. It is obvious that this will be followed by social and political crises,” he added.

Turkey registered an annual increase of 19.89% in consumer prices in October, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced on Nov. 3.

Annual inflation rose by 0.31 percentage points from 19.58% a month ago, while the figure was 11.89% in October 2020, according to TurkStat data.