“We have prepared a budget whereby we allocate resources to every sector and area in keeping with our goals for 2023. We will inshallah put this budget at the service of our nation following the negotiations to be held at the commissions and general assembly of the GNAT,” Erdoğan said.

Touching on the coal mine blast in Bartın’s Amasra district last Friday, Erdoğan stressed that only after the relevant institutions and experts complete their investigations can it be understood for sure how come a blast occurred despite all the measures taken and all the systems employed at the coal mine. “All that is said will be nothing but speculations until the final report is released on the blast. Our responsibility is to see what we can do until we have this report before us. Our state took action with all its ministers, institutions, and personnel at the very moment of the accident.”

“We continue to consolidate the social state principle in the 2023 budget as well”

Pointing out that the budget proposal for 2023 was presented on October 17 to the GNAT on behalf of the Presidency, Erdoğan stated: “I hope the 2023 budget, the preparations of which are coordinated by Mr. Vice President as well as the Presidency of Strategy and Budget and the Ministry of Treasury and Finance with the participation of all the relevant agencies and institutions, may be auspicious for our country and nation.”

Stressing that the lion’s share from the 2023 budget has been allocated to education as has been in all the budgets prepared by AK Party governments thus far, Erdoğan went on to say: “We have set the education budget, which was TL10.3 billion when we came to power in 2002, as nearly TL650 billion for 2023, a 58 times increase. We continue to consolidate the social state principle in the 2023 budget as well. We will increase the social aid budget from merely TL2 billion in 2002 to TL258 billion next year so as to enable every single member of our nation to get their dues from our country’s resources. We are allocating a TL401 billion fund in order for our local administrations to better serve our cities.”

The defense budget has been raised to as high as TL469 billion in the face of increasingly growing security threats in the region and the world, the President said. “We assign over TL145 billion fund to the supports we will be extending to the real sector in a bid to incentivize investments, employment, production, and exports. Likewise, we will continue to support our farmers and manufacturers with a TL143 billion fund. As you see, we have prepared a budget whereby we allocate resources to every sector and area in keeping with our goals for 2023. We will inshallah put this budget at the service of our nation following the negotiations to be held at the commissions and general assembly of the GNAT.” (ILKHA)