Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek stated on Sunday that "his country is taking measures to reestablish financial discipline and control the budget deficit." He mentioned on Twitter, "We will not allow a permanent collapse of public finance indicators by reinstating financial discipline and controlling the budget deficit." Şimşek explained that "the state will build more than 319,000 housing units for those who lost their homes due to the earthquakes, to be delivered within a year." He added, "The package being discussed in parliament aims to reduce the impact of additional costs resulting from the earthquake on the budget. These laws will indirectly strengthen control over the current budget deficit."
The deficit in the first five months of the year reached 263.6 billion lira (10.12 billion dollars), an increase from 124.6 billion lira last year, due to increased spending ahead of the presidential elections in May and the impact of the earthquakes that struck southern Turkey in February. Turkey raised value-added tax, fees, and taxes on consumer loans on Friday. Parliament is discussing a bill aimed at increasing corporate taxes to finance reconstruction efforts following the February earthquakes that claimed 50,000 lives and displaced millions in the southern region of the country.
