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![\"T\u00fcrkiye](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/6ac7490075376faf77849f10.jpg\")
<\/p>\n ISTANBUL
\n <\/p>\n
Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet \u015eim\u015fek (AA Photo)<\/p>\n
T\u00fcrkiye<\/a> prioritizes macro-financial<\/a> stability<\/a> and a tight fiscal policy to cushion the impact of shocks while addressing global structural headwinds, Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet \u015eim\u015fek<\/a> said.<\/p>\n \u015eim\u015fek said on Oct. 8 during the Istanbul Economic Forum’s opening ceremony that the government maintained a tight fiscal policy to cushion the impact of shocks and prioritize macro-financial stability.<\/p>\n The two-day forum was organized by the Central Bank of the Republic of T\u00fcrkiye to address global economic policy challenges by gathering central bank governors and high-level policymakers from around the world, including the US and the UK.<\/p>\n \u015eim\u015fek noted that global structural headwinds included conflicts, trade protectionism, high indebtedness, unfavorable demographics, impending climate disasters and artificial intelligence (AI).<\/p>\n The country plans to increase defense spending by 229% in the 2027 budget against the Central Bank’s 21% inflation target for next year to build deterrence.<\/p>\n \u015eim\u015fek added that the value of research and development in defense projects exceeded $100 billion, with around 1,400 defense products and projects, moving the country toward becoming a top 10 exporter.<\/p>\n He said T\u00fcrkiye ranked among the top three globally for official development assistance and diplomatic footprint.<\/p>\n Turkish Airlines flew to the most destinations compared with other carriers, he recalled.<\/p>\n He also said the government invested in an $8 billion railway project crossing the Bosphorus in Istanbul to connect Beijing to London.<\/p>\n The country also encouraged its neighbors to invest in additional corridors, such as the new development road, to improve connectivity and resilience.<\/p>\n \u015eim\u015fek pointed out that the nation invested in natural gas and oil pipelines to ensure the availability of energy supplies.<\/p>\n The nation boosted the share of renewables in electricity generation to almost 60% and set an ambitious 35% electrification target, up from 23%, as the COP31 host.<\/p>\n The government responded to global trade protectionism by expanding free trade agreements, holding 54 pacts, with three pending and ongoing negotiations with Japan, Indonesia, the Gulf Cooperation Council and Canada.<\/p>\n He pointed out that tourism revenue jumped ninefold over the past quarter-century, placing T\u00fcrkiye among the top five global tourist destinations.<\/p>\n \u015eim\u015fek mentioned that the country had over 50 internationally accredited healthcare facilities and attracted medical tourists for cosmetic treatments.<\/p>\n He said the nation became the world’s third-largest exporter of soap operas and ranked second to London in the gaming ecosystem for startups and unicorns.<\/p>\n The country ranked second to China in the global league of contractors and hoped to aid in regional reconstruction, which required at least $1 trillion over the next decade.<\/p>\n \u015eim\u015fek noted that the nation hosted the sixth-largest number of international students at its universities.<\/p>\n He underscored that total indebtedness remained at 91%, compared with a 230% average for emerging market peers, while public debt to GDP stood at 22%.<\/p>\n The government targeted a 3.1% deficit this year, keeping it well below the 5.8% average for global emerging markets, and reduced current expenditures from 4.6% of the budget to 2.9%.<\/p>\n The administration sought to strengthen its fiscal position by investing in public procurement, state-owned enterprise governance and tax reforms.<\/p>\n \u015eim\u015fek said the working-age population would continue to grow over the next decade and the administration planned reforms to boost women’s low labor force participation rate.<\/p>\n He said the country invested in 5G+ technology, expanded fiber capacity and planned nuclear power plants, including small modular reactors (SMRs), to power AI.<\/p>\n The government also helped small and medium-sized enterprises boost productivity to capitalize on the positive potential of AI.<\/p>\n The administration invested in irrigation and climate-resilient agriculture to combat global warming.<\/p>\n \u015eim\u015fek remarked that the country frequently tested its ability to recover quickly from difficulties and adapted its policies despite challenges in a tough neighborhood.<\/p>\n He underscored that delivering price stability remained the primary goal of the medium-term economic program while maintaining fiscal discipline.<\/p>\n The minister added that external imbalances remained manageable even though they deteriorated this year because of the war.<\/p>\n He highlighted that real convergence continued as the economy grew slightly more than 3%, outpacing the 1.5% growth of trading partners, while historical growth over the last 25 years stood closer to 5.5%.<\/p>\n \u015eim\u015fek noted that the Central Bank governor utilized quantitative and selective credit-tightening tools while the government was adjusting its fiscal policy to make support more selective and targeted.<\/p>\n He concluded that recent stress in the asset management sector remained contained and the country maintained plenty of policy space to respond in a shock-prone world.<\/p>\n Touching on the country’s disinflation process, the minister said the process had largely stalled this year because of the war, “but we’re not giving up.”<\/p>\n “This year deficit would have been actually closer to two and a half percent, had we not deployed fiscal space to cushion or to, to slow the pass through from crudes to final products,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ISTANBUL Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet \u015eim\u015fek (AA Photo) T\u00fcrkiye prioritizes macro-financial stability and a tight fiscal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46,288920,21109,18085,56422],"class_list":["post-641119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-macro-financial","tag-mehmet-simsek","tag-stability","tag-trkiye"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}