Turkey eyes to become 12th-largest economy based on PPP

By Tuba Sahin and Aynur Ekiz

ANKARA

Turkey will be the 12th-largest economy based on purchasing power parity (PPP) next year, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

Currently, the country ranks 13th-largest economy based on PPP.

In his parliamentary address at the group meeting of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, Erdogan said that the government is determined to reduce the inflation rate to the targeted level in 2019.

"Every step we have aims to maintain our growth, development strength," the president said.

Turkey's annual inflation was 21.62 percent in November, according to the latest data from Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

As noted in Turkey's new economic program announced in September, the country's inflation rate target is 20.8 percent this year, 15.9 percent next year, 9.8 percent in 2020, and 6.0 percent in 2021.

Also touching on Turkey’s export target, Erdogan said the country will break exports record by the year-end with $170 billion.

Turkey's exports amounted to $138.7 billion in the 10-month period, marking an annual hike of 7.6 percent, according to TurkStat.

Last year the country's exports totaled over $157.05 billion.

Erdogan added that current account deficit will drop below $30 billion by the end of 2018.

According to Central Bank, the 12-month rolling deficit fell to $39.4 billion as of October. In 2017, Turkey's annual current account deficit was some $47.5 billion -- around 5.6 percent of the country's GDP.

Erdogan also said the unemployment rate will hit single digits in 2019.

The unemployment rate in Turkey stood at 11.4 percent in September, according to TurkStat.