New economic program will benefit all 84M Turkish citizens: President Erdogan

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) – Measures being taken by the government to shore up the Turkish lira will benefit each and every one of Turkey’s 84 million people, the country’s president said on Wednesday.

“The winner here is not only those who have money in the bank or the exporter; this is for the entire country, each and every one of our 84 million citizens,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an address to the Justice and Development (AK) Party’s parliamentary group.

New mechanisms to protect the lira unveiled by Turkey this week include a system to compensate lira depositors for foreign currency fluctuations, while encouraging citizens to move towards Turkish lira-based assets.

The fresh measures come in the wake of rising prices and exchange rates as the government pursues its “new economic model,” which emphasizes opposition to high interest rates.

Erdogan stressed that the new steps will protect lira investments and boost confidence in the Turkish currency.

“Our move to bring exchange rates to a level that reflects the realities of Turkey, within the rules of the free market economy, has achieved its purpose,” he said.

“We want to ensure that the free market operates by its own rules by eliminating malicious speculators from our country.”

The lira/dollar exchange rate dropped to 12.35 by 11.00 a.m. local time (0800GMT) on Wednesday morning, a gain of almost 40% since Monday evening.

Erdogan once again ruled out the possibility of early elections in Turkey, reiterating that the country will head to the polls as scheduled in June 2023.

“There will be no early elections. Turkey is a country with laws. The elections will be held on the date that has been set,” he maintained.