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

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY PRESIDENT; OTHER CHANGES

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s president said Wednesday he would drive away 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 steps accordingly,” he said.

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

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

Last month, Turkey's Central Bank lowered its benchmark 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 saw 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 point from 19.58% a month ago, while the figure was 11.89% in October 2020, according to TurkStat data.

- 4th drill ship added to fleet

Erdogan also said that Turkey added a fourth to its fleet of drill ships, joining the Fatih, Yavuz, and Kanuni.

"We have now reached a capacity to operate outside of the borders of our country with our large drilling fleet," he said.

The new 238-meter-long and 42-meter-wide (781 feet long and 138 ft. wide) ship weighs 68,000 gross tons and has a maximum drilling depth of 12,200 meters (40,026 feet).

The vessel, with seventh-generation advanced technology, has a maximum operating depth of 3,600 meters (11,811 ft.), a tower height of 104 meters (341 ft.) and a crew capacity of 200.

Turkey currently operates in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea with three drill ships and two seismic vessels.

The ships are intended to help Turkey claim its fair share of energy resources in its territorial waters.