Turkish vice president meets representatives of Turkish community, business sector in London

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz met with representatives of Turkish businesses, as well as representatives of the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot communities, as part of his contacts in the British capital.

Yilmaz visited the Yunus Emre Institute in London to meet representatives of the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot communities living in the UK.

Consul General to London Bekir Utku Atahan was among those at the meeting.

Yilmaz also met with representatives of Turkish Cypriots at a Turkish Embassy residence with the attendance of Cimen Keskin, representative of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

- Türkiye’s medium-term program

Meeting with Turkish businesspeople late Monday, Yilmaz mentioned Türkiye's medium-term program target, saying Türkiye saw 4.7% growth in the first nine months of last year.

"We have a 4.4% (growth) target in our medium-term program. We will achieve this target even if the last quarter saw 3.7% growth," he added.

Commenting on price stability and the fight against inflation in Türkiye, he said bringing down inflation is the main priority in the medium-term program.

Explaining that the high inflation in January was temporary and that things will change towards the end of the year, Yilmaz also predicted that high inflation will continue in the middle of the year due to the base effect, but that there will be a significant decrease on an annual basis at the end of the year.

Pointing out that the current deficit fell from $60 billion to $45 billion at the end of 2023, he stated that exports and tourism revenues had a "significant impact" on this positive trend.

Despite a number of negativities, exports reached $256 billion last year, which is slightly above the medium-term program, he said, calling this "pleasing."

"So there is some contraction in our foreign trade deficit. Exports rose 3.6% in January. There is a decrease of around 23% in imports, so the improvement in our trade balance continues in the first months," added Yilmaz.

- Türkiye's falling risk premium

Saying that banking sector in Türkiye is well above international standards and legal requirements, Yilmaz pointed to a significant drop in Türkiye's risk premium.

Elaborating that the risk premium fell from around 700 last year to around 300, the vice president underlined that this is very important for the public and companies to access international financing under more suitable conditions.

Yilmaz pointed to the goal of achieving investment and export-oriented growth instead of consumption-oriented growth, and underlined that such growth would be of higher quality and healthier.

He also stressed that support for export and investment will continue to rise.