TURKEY: Tayyip Erdogan won re-election last weekend and is scheduled to take the oath of office as president of Turkey on Saturday. He will then select his cabinet, which is expected to signify a change in his unconventional economic plan. He received 52.2% of the vote in the runoff election, which contradicted the majority of surveys and occurred despite a cost-of-living crisis.
Erdogan’s new five-year term as president gives him the freedom to continue his more autocratic tactics, which have split the NATO member nation and boosted its standing as a regional military might. He will take the oath in the general assembly in Ankara at 3 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Saturday.
A ceremony at the presidential palace will be attended by representatives from 78 nations and international organisations, including NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
Erdogan is expected to appoint ministers in the evening, including Mehmet Simsek, the former head of the economy. This would indicate a return to more conventional economic policies, such as interest rate increases.
Simsek held the positions of finance minister and deputy prime minister from 2009 to 2018 and now has a significant role. The policy that has been supported by low-interest rates despite strong inflation and strict state control of the markets may change.
After his AK Party won the election, Erdogan was elected prime minister in 2003. Following a vote that gave him more administrative authority, he was chosen for a second term in 2018. In 2014, the public first voted him president, and in 2018, they chose him to serve another term.
The opposition was optimistic that Erdogan would be overthrown and his initiatives, such as interest rate increases to combat inflation, would be reversed. This made the election on May 14 and the runoff on May 28 crucial. Erdogan stated that Turkey’s most pressing problem was inflation, which had reached a 24-year high of 85% last year.
Analysts have warned that the economy is vulnerable to turbulence if existing policies are kept in place, with the lira hitting fresh all-time lows following the election. This is due to shrinking foreign reserves, a growing state-backed protected deposits programme, and unanchored inflation expectations.
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