Erdogan launches a new presidential campaign to be re-elected and doubts about his economic program
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched his re-election campaign with his party pledging to reduce inflation to the single digit of less than 10 percent and boost growth, as he seeks to extend two decades of rule.
According to Bloomberg, Erdogan is facing the biggest political challenge since his Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in 2002, with polls showing support slipping after unconventional economic policies blocked the lira and led to higher inflation.
Economic Promises
According to MENA, the election manifesto largely redefined the economic promises already made in previous years, but offered little clarity about what form policies might take. The plan, which ranges widely from foreign policy to energy, laid out ambitious plans if the party came first in the polls and included a pledge to form a “strong economic team” after the May 14 vote.
The party has also committed to goals including reducing inflation to the single digit level from the current 50.5% and raising unemployment to 7%.
“The vision lacks the details of policy and is unlikely to ease market nerves as the $900 billion ($1.3 trillion) economy leans toward one of Erdogan’s two decades of most challenging years of rule, and two months after two devastating earthquakes, Turkey is emerging from an inflation crisis with record budget and current account deficits as pressure on its currency intensifies.”
It went on to say that the Turkish president, repeating his economic mantra that investment, production, exports and the current account surplus ultimately would drive GDP, told a crowd of stadiums in Ankara: “We will put inflation back in the ones place and definitely save our country from this problem.”
Erdogan’s drastic interest rate cuts sent inflation soaring to its 24-year high above 85 percent in October, when the ensuing cost-of-living crisis engulfed Turkish households and reduced earnings and savings.
“We will further improve investment with a structure based on a global integrated free market economy,” the ruling party’s statement said, aiming to achieve 5.5% annual growth in 2024-2028 and a GDP of $1.5 trillion ($2.25 trillion) by the end of 2028.
Erdogan said last week that a team promoting economic policies was coordinated by former economic czar Mehmet Şimşek, who is respected by international investors, and the president would face the main opposition alliance candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.
Shocking Polls
In the latest Metropole poll, 42.6% of respondents said they would vote for Kılıçdaroğlu and 41.1% for Erdogan in the first round of voting, while the other two presidential candidates won 7.2 %.
Erdogan said the AKP would continue to normalize relations in the region and aim to build an “axis of Turkey.” Ankara has recently taken steps to mend relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria after years of tension.
“We can negotiate with both sides in the Russo-Ukrainian war, achieve tangible progress like the grain corridor, exchange prisoners, and we can still talk about the possibility of peace,” he said.
