AK Party member Zeybekci: Inflation will be well below 20% in 2025.

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AK Party Deputy Chairman Nihat Zeybekci said, "By the end of this year, we expect inflation to approach 40, with a target around 38 or 39, but we have an expectation around 41. By this time in 2025, inflation in Turkey will be well below 20%."

The AK Party Burdur Central District Congress was held at the Teacher's House Conference Hall. The current president, Hüseyin Okan, was the only candidate at the congress, which was attended by AK Party Deputy Chairman Nihat Zeybekci and party officials. Speaking at the congress, Nihat Zeybekci said, "Our nation said to us on March 31, 'Oh servants of the AK Party, we are giving you the duty of opposition.' We are in opposition in local administrations, but on May 23 of last year, this nation looked at the distorted table with 3, 5, 8, or however many parties on the other side, glanced at the terrorist organizations running around in the middle, and the other terrorist organizations under the table, and said, 'Oh dear, if the matter is the homeland, then everything else is secondary. Our vote is for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.'

THE BURDEN OF EYT

Nihat Zeybekci, stating that the AK Party had to bring out EYT, said, "The financial cost of EYT this year is over 800 billion lira. In 2025, it will be around 1.2 trillion. Do you know what the burden brought by EYT in 2024 means? God forbid, we are experiencing two earthquakes every year, like the biggest earthquake in our history, the earthquakes of February 6; economically, just because of EYT. As of today, according to nominal, officially recorded figures, Turkey is the 17th largest economy in the world. According to the list published by the World Bank based on purchasing power parity, it is the 11th largest economy in the world. A year ago, the Central Bank's net reserves were minus 70 billion dollars, today the Central Bank's net reserves are plus 42 billion dollars. There has been an improvement of about 110 billion in a year. I didn't see the figure on Friday, but the Central Bank's gross reserves are at 10 billion dollars, the highest in the history of the Republic. Turkey is currently in 8th place in the world in terms of the Central Bank's gold reserves," he said.

YEAR-END INFLATION TARGET

Stating, "We have recovered the economy, and we will recover it," AK Party Deputy Chairman Nihat Zeybekci said: "People who do nothing have no faults. We have done a lot of work. Of course, we have made mistakes as well. At the point we have reached today, in the fight against inflation, we expect inflation to approach 40 by the end of this year, with a target around 38 or 39, but we have an expectation around 41. By this time in 2025, inflation in Turkey will be well below 20%. By the summer of 2026, inflation in Turkey will be around 10% or below. Regarding the tight monetary policy, the views of our General Chairman, our President, are also in this direction. The real fight against inflation is not through monetary measures. Raising interest rates is the first step to ensure that money goes from demand to banks, and it is correct, and we support it. However, the main thing that should be done in the fight against inflation is to increase the product, production, and employment, the goods on the shelves, in the stores, and in the markets. This is how we fight inflation; there is no other way to fight it."

After Zeybekci's speech, Hüseyin Okan was re-elected as the central district president in the election held.