Turkey: Economic support in face of virus hits $28.5B

ANKARA

Turkey is supporting the real sector and lower-income groups in the face of coronavirus with a record 200 billion Turkish lira ($28.5 billion) Economic Stability Shield package, said Turkey’s president on Tuesday.

Stressing Turkey's fight against the outbreak, Recep Tayyip Erdogan told members of his ruling party that thanks to measures taken by the government, the country's economy and production will quickly return to normal.

"Production in our country will rise rapidly as before when we gradually lift the outbreak measures according to a schedule we have set," he said.

“If we don’t make sacrifices in this process, if we don’t leave the pandemic behind with other countries simultaneously, we know we will experience much more serious losses,” warned Erdogan.

But changes in the world could bring Turkey huge new opportunities, he said, adding that if they are patient, the Turkish public will see better days.

On solidarity fund-raising campaigns in the country, Erdogan said that every penny spent on Turkey’s prosperity, peace, security, and future has gone to the right place.

Domestic policy

Erdogan said every problem and threat which Turkey faces show that the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has no choice but to take on the responsibility of helping the country.

He expressed his gratitude to each of Turkey's 83 million citizens who support the government by respecting social distancing, quarantine, and lockdown measures.

Turkey on Monday recorded the lowest number of new coronavirus cases in the past 21 days. The total number of cases in the country rose to 112,261, with 2,131 new cases. The coronavirus death toll in the country also reached 2,900 with 95 deaths.

Meanwhile, so far, a total of 33,791 patients have been discharged from hospitals after recovering from the virus, with 4,651 discharged on Monday alone, according to the country's Health Ministry.

After originating in Wuhan, China last December, COVID-19 has spread to at least 185 countries and regions across the world, with Europe and the US currently the worst hit.

The pandemic has killed over 212,000 people with total infections over 3 million, while more than 906,000 have recovered from the disease, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.