Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday appointed Mehmet Şimşek as Minister of Treasury and Finance the day after the announcement of the formation of the Council of Ministers during his new presidency of the country for 5 years.

Erdogan handed over the economy to Şimşek, who previously served as finance minister and deputy prime minister for economic affairs, and was highly regarded by investors when he served as finance minister and deputy prime minister between 2009 and 2018.

A Reuters report says Şimşek's appointment "could put an end to years of unconventional economic policies under Erdogan, which have been characterized by lower interest rates despite high inflation."

The agency quoted analysts as saying that the appointment of Şimšek as treasury and finance minister could pave the way for interest rate hikes in the coming months.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan has stressed that the priority of the new government will be to solve the inflation problem in the country and continue to address the effects of the devastating earthquake of the sixth of February / February.

He also stressed the day after delivering his victory speech that Turkey must have a productive economy, expressing pride that his government did not resort to requesting loans from the International Monetary Fund after it repaid its last debt in 2013.

Analysts expressed in a previous interview with Al Jazeera Net their belief that liberal policies are pursued that will facilitate foreign exchange flows, and work to achieve political stability to secure economic stability.


Who is Shimeshk?

  • Of Kurdish origin, he was born in Batman, southeastern Turkey in 1967.
  • He completed his elementary, middle and high school education in Batman.
  • He studied economics at Ankara University's Faculty of Political Science in 1988.
  • He received his Master's degree in Economics from the University of Exeter, England.
  • Previously, he worked as an economist and strategist at Merrill Lynch in London for 7 years in the Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa division.
  • In this period he had a number of contacts with the Turkish authorities and the Central Bank, and was working with the AKP government on economic policy.
  • He served as Chief Economist and Analyst of Deutsche-Bender Securities Bank from 1998-2000.
  • He spent about a year in New York City, where he worked with UBS Securities in 1997.
  • He was one of the senior economists at the US Embassy in Ankara for 4 years.
  • He served as Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the economy from 2007 until 2009.
  • He served as Minister of Finance from 2009 until 2015.
  • He was nominated as one of the 500 most influential people in the world by Foreign Policy in 2013.
  • He was named "Emerging Europe Finance Minister of the Year 2013" by Emerging Markets Magazine.