ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched his re-election campaign with a party pledge to slash inflation to single digits and boost economic growth as he seeks to extend his two decades in power in the May 14 vote.
Erdogan is facing the biggest political challenge since his Justice and Development (AK) Party came to power in 2002. Polls show support sagging in recent years since the Turkish lira has fallen steeply in value and inflation has skyrocketed. Opponents have blamed the president’s economic policies.
Even so, the president repeated his economic mantra that investment, production, exports and an eventual current account surplus would drive up Turkey’s gross domestic product.
“We will bring inflation back down to single digits and definitely save our country from this problem,” he told a crowd at an Ankara stadium on Tuesday.
Erdogan sought aggressive interest rate cuts, which the Central Bank of Turkey carried out, sending inflation to a 24-year peak of more than 85 percent in October before it dipped to near 50 percent in March.
The ensuing cost-of-living crisis has gripped Turkish households and squeezed earnings and savings, bottoming out people’s purchasing power. –Agencies
