Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to calm fears about the country's economy, which has shown negative signs recently, stressing Ankara will successfully overcome all economic challenges.
Meanwhile, official data showed that Turkey’s annual inflation rose to 15.85 in July.
On Friday, Erdogan unveiled the first 100-day action plan of Turkey's first-ever Cabinet under the new presidential system.
"Today, we share our first 100-day action plan with you," Erdogan said at the meeting in Ankara.
The plan includes 400 projects worth $9 billion that will boost the new system, according to Erdogan.
He stressed that these projects will not be an additional burden on the budget.
Erdogan noted that 48 out of the 400 projects would deal with the defense industry, which Turkey has no second thoughts on.
Consumer prices in Turkey rose 15.85 percent in July year-on-year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Friday. Analysts had expected inflation to rise to 16.3 percent.
The Turkish government predicted an inflation rate of 14.64 percent this year, while the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) revised on Tuesday its year-end inflation forecast to 13.4 percent from 8.4 percent in a report released last April. This caused a new decline in the Turkish lira, which has suffered losses since the beginning of this year amounting to more than 25 percent of its value.
The Turkish lira has been hit hard following a US decision to impose sanctions on Turkish Ministers of Justice and Interior over the terrorism trial of US pastor Andrew Brunson, who is accused of supporting a group Ankara blames for the 2016 failed coup. Brunson is also on trial for political and military espionage.
Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said US sanctions on Turkey were unacceptable and would have a limited impact on the economy.
The Minister said Turkey's priority is to solve the issue with the US, a NATO ally, and "ensure that this process is settled through diplomacy and constructive efforts that would be consistent with the relations between the two allied countries."
"Meanwhile, we have initiated a comprehensive plan to achieve our goals of budget discipline, disinflation, and sound and sustainable growth in light of current macroeconomic data," Albayrak said.
On the other hand, official data showed that Turkish exports exceeded $82 billion during the first half of 2018, compared to about $77 billion during same period of last year.
Meanwhile, trade volumes between India and Turkey will reach $10 billion by 2020, announced Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Twitter.
The announcement came after Cavusoglu met with his Indian counterpart Vijay Kumar Singh in Singapore on the sidelines of the 51st ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on Thursday.
“Investment and trade between Turkey and India are increasing. We will work together to increase bilateral trade volume to $10 billion from last year’s $6.9 billion,” added the Minister.
.png?w=600)
