UPDATE - 'Next 4-year period offers opportunities for Turkey'

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY MINISTER; ADDS DETAILS

By Handan Gunes and Abdulselam Durdak

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey will benefit the four-year period ahead to prepare a basis for attaining its dynamic structure, the finance and treasury minister said Friday.

"Turkey has gained significant experiences to fight against foreign currency attacks in the past period," Berat Albayrak said in the 7th Ordinary General Assembly of the Association of Financial Leasing in Istanbul.

“Today, we have a four-year period ahead of us offering Turkey opportunities. We are preparing a basis for Turkey to attain its dynamic structure in a permanent and steady way,” Albayrak said.

He recalled that Turkey’s current account deficit dropped to $8.6 billion in April, compared to the historical high with $57.9 billion in May 2018.

He also said Turkey will post a current surplus in June for the first time since the rule of Justice and Development (AK) Party for nearly 17 years.

Also mentioning Turkey’s New Economic Program, Albayrak said the priority is on solving the current deficit and high inflation problems.

He stated that positive developments were seen for Turkish lira, the country's market indicators and macro-economic data, such as risk premiums, inflation rate, and interest rates, in the recent period.

The country's annual inflation rate dropped to 15.72% in June from 18.71% in May, according to Turkey’s statistical authority.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate, which was around 6 in May and 5.8 in the last week, dropped around 5.60 on Friday.

The minister highlighted that the country's 2019 year-end inflation rate will be under 15.9% as per the targets in the New Economic Program.

He said the GDP and employment targets will also be higher than the program's expectations in the second half of this year.

*Writing and contribution by Gokhan Ergocun