Despite shocks, Turkish economic program not shaken: Erdoğan

The structural resilience of the Turkish economy has been strengthened with the program the government is implementing, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday.

He also said that the program “has not been shaken” despite the shocks, while praising the continued growth of the economy at the event in Istanbul.

“Thanks to the program, we have strengthened the structural resilience of our economy. Despite all kinds of shocks experienced, especially in the past three months, the program has not been shaken,” Erdoğan said.

Delivering a speech at the 32nd Ordinary General Assembly of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) and Export Champions Award Ceremony, the president also said they expected to see inflation figures in the 20s by the end of the year.

Annual inflation in Türkiye eased to 35.4% in May, touching the lowest level since late 2021 amid a continued disinflation period in the face of tight monetary conditions.

“Our reserves are starting to increase again. Confidence in the Turkish lira is increasing. Inflation has been declining uninterruptedly for a year,” he said.

“Inflation in May is at its lowest level in the last three and a half years. We aim to see figures in the 20s by the end of the year,” he added.

Turkish central bank targets inflation to drop to 24% by the end of 2025 with a wider window range between 19% and 29%. The officials have also repeatedly conveyed the aim to see the consumer price index (CPI) in the 20s range.

The data for June, which is due to be announced later this week, is likely to show the rate easing further, according to the latest polls.

Moreover, touching upon exports, Erdoğan said that 2024 was “a record year in terms of exports.”

“We broke a record with $262 billion in exports. The number of companies exporting over $1 billion last year increased to 18. We continue on our path with the same rhythm in 2025,” he continued.

“Our exports increased by 2.7% in May. In the January-May period, goods exports increased by 3.5%. We are also doing quite well in terms of service exports,” he added.

Defense, drone exports

At the same time, he drew attention to medium-high and high-tech product exports as well as the success in the shipments from the defense and aerospace sector.

“The increase in Türkiye’s exports has changed not only in quantity but also in quality. In 2024, medium-high and high-tech product exports exceeded $101 billion. We continue to work to expand our exports,” said Erdoğan.

“In 2024, we provided TL 24.7 billion worth of resources to our companies to support exports of goods and services. Factors such as increasing geopolitical tensions have reminded us once again that we need to boost the geographical diversity of our exports. We aim to lift our exports to distant countries to $50 billion and the share of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries in our total exports to 30% by 2028,” he noted.

“We have managed to become one of the leading countries in armed and unarmed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Turkish companies produce two out of every three UAVs sold in the world. We have become a global brand in armored land vehicles. God willing, we will achieve the success we have in UAVs in warplanes,” he added.

He also recalled that defense exports reached the volume of $7.1 billion, referring to last year’s figures, which marked a new record for the sector.

As part of his remarks, he also mentioned that the Turkish economy expanded by 3.2% in 2024, also adding that it grew by 2% in the first quarter. “We have achieved uninterrupted growth for 19 quarters,” he said.

Speaking at the same event, Trade Minister Ömer Bolat stated that exports continued to increase despite major challenges.

“In five out of the first six months of the year, we have achieved more goods exports than in the same months of the previous year. We continued to increase in service exports as of the first four months,” he said.

Starting his speech, Bolat recalled that the 2000s, which started with great excitement and hope, were subject to major conflicts and crises such as the world financial crisis, global pandemic, wars and energy wars. He, however, expressed that Türkiye maintained its political stability under the leadership of President Erdoğan despite being in the middle of these crises and the ring of fire, also suggesting that major developments were made in industry, agriculture, services and trade with the reforms in the economy, successes in foreign policy and major projects implemented.

He said that Türkiye’s national income has increased sixfold in dollar terms in the last 22 years, reaching $1.37 trillion and that the national income per capita has increased fourfold, approaching $16,000. Thus, he said Türkiye has risen to the league of high-income countries according to the World Bank.

The minister also said that the annualized exports have reached $265.5 billion as of the end of May.

“Last year, we generated a total of $377 billion in foreign currency. Our president has set a target of at least $390 billion for this year, and with God’s permission, we will complete this by the end of the year,” he maintained.

Top exporters

At the event, the companies that made the highest contribution to Türkiye’s total exports of $377 billion in goods and services last year received their awards.

In services exports, the crown belonged to the flag carrier Turkish Airlines (THY), which was followed by other companies mostly operating in the aviation industry, including Pegasus, Güneş Ekspres Aviation Inc., IGA Airport Operation Inc., and TAV Airports Holding Inc.

The top 10 companies that exported the most goods in 2024 were listed as Ford Automotive, Toyota Automotive Industry Türkiye Inc., Türkiye Petroleum Refineries Inc. (Tüpraş), Kibar Foreign Trade Inc., Star Refinery, TGS Foreign Trade Inc., Oyak-Renault Automobile Factories, Vestel, Arçelik and Baykar Makina.

Moreover, in the e-export category, Trendyol Group ranked first, and was followed by Asır Group Export Inc. and Modanisa Electronic Retailing and Trading Inc.

The event in Istanbul was also attended by Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacır, Youth and Sports Minister Osman Aşkın Bak and TIM head Müstafa Gültepe.