Erdoğan: Turkey to start Canal İstanbul project this month, may reduce interest rates in July

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan talked about the country's current affairs during a program on the state-run broadcaster TRT last night (June 1).

About the economy, he said interest rates should be reduced and he had spoken to the governor of the Central Bank about the issue.

"It is a must for us to reduce interest rates," Erdoğan said and added that they intend to reduce interest rates in July or August."

"If we remove the burden of interest rate from investments and costs, we will enter a period of relief as well, since it is interest rates that trigger cost inflation," he said.

Erdoğan is known to advocate a theory that "higher interest rates cause higher inflation rates."

The government diverted from this policy in November, when the Central Bank governor and the finance minister, who was his son-in-law, were replaced.

Since then, the policy rate in Turkey has increased from 10.25 percent to 19 percent, becoming one of the top 10 countries with the highest interest rates.

In March, the Central Bank governor was replaced again, with Şahap Kavcıoğlu, a pro-government columnist who supports Erdoğan's interest rate theory. In the last two months, the Central Bank kept the interest rate constant.

Opposition parties accuse Erdoğan of draining the Central Bank's foreign currency reserves in order to implement his theory.

Economists and the opposition estimate that the bank had sold about 128 billion dollars to keep the US dollar's exchange rate from rising against the Turkish lira while also keeping inflation and interest rates low. The Central Bank does not make public the relevant data.

The 128 billion dollars

Over the past few months, "Where is the 128 billion dollars?" has become a slogan of the opposition, which is not satisfied with the government's explanations about the reserves.

Talking about the issue, Erdoğan said, "They ask where the 128 billion dollars is. Is it okay to ask where the Central Bank's money has gone?

"The catastrophes, disasters we went through during this time... Did anybody ask how we made these expenditures? These people think they have the right to ask about these.

"Don't forget this, the superstructure of a country without infrastructure is always under threat. Therefore, we'll continue to attach importance to infrastructure."

CLICK - Erdoğan: Central Bank reserves not lost but 'changed hands'

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Canal İstanbul

The president also said that they plan to start the construction work for the Canal (Kanal) İstanbul by the end of this month.

The opposition, scientists and environmentalists strongly oppose the project, raising concerns about the canal's possible environmental impact.

Linking the Black Sea in the north and the Sea of Marmara in the south through İstanbul's west, the canal will also have "two giant new cities" on its two sides, said Erdoğan. It would be like "a city within a city," he added.

"Hopefully, we are going to break the ground for the first bridge for the Canal İstanbul. We can't wait any longer," said the president, adding that a total of six bridges would be built over the canal.

CLICK - Canal İstanbul expert claims to be threatened after not making changes in report

The coronavirus pandemic

Turkey will shortly start to vaccinate people between the ages of 50 and 55, the president noted.

He also revealed that he has got three vaccine jabs so far.

The government recently agreed to buy 120 million doses of the BioNTech vaccine while deliveries from China's Sinovac, which the government mostly relied on, have slowed down in the past two months.

Turkey, a country of 83 million people, has inoculated 29.4 million people since January, with 12.6 million people fully vaccinated, according to the Health Ministry's tracker.

"Did you kill your pet?"

During the program, a journalist's question to Erdoğan about the anticipated animal rights law led to awkward moments.

Hasan Öztürk, the editor-in-chief of Ülke TV and a columnist for daily Yeni Şafak, both pro-government outlets, said, "Sir, a law on animal rights was going to be enacted" and talked about his love for animals.

"How many animals do you have?" the president asked him.

"I had two until last week. I have one now," he replied.

Erdoğan then asked, "Did you kill it?" and laughed. (DŞ/VK)