Turkey's new finance minister: Returning to rational grounds only option left

Turkey's newly appointed finance minister Mehmet Simsek said at a handover ceremony that "Turkey now has no option left but to return to rational grounds."

Simsek, who was appointed yesterday as the new minister of treasury and finance by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, attended a handover ceremony on Sunday in Ankara with his predecessor Nureddin Nebati.

Speaking at the ceremony, Simsek said:

"The main objective of our government is to increase social prosperity. Our principles for achieving this objective will be compatibility with global norms and commitment to transparency, consistency and predictability."

He continued:

"Turkey is now left with no option but to return to rational grounds. A predictable Turkish economy based on principles will be our key to achieving the much craved prosperity. At a conjuncture where global hardships and geopolitical tensions have been aggravated, we will prioritize macro financial stability by enhancing our corporate quality and capabilities."

He added:

"We'll start working on our middle term program without wasting any time. Our objectives will be restoring financial discipline and price stability to achieve a sustainable strong growth. It will be of vital importance for our country in the middle term to bring inflation back to single digit, to increase predictability in all fields and to speed up a structural transformation in order to lower the current deficit."

He concluded:

"Our main policy in the implementation of financial programs and structural reforms will be to support the Central Bank in its fight against inflation."