Erdogan wants to convince voters with projects worth billions

Istanbul The Turkish President loves to give gifts to the people. The latest: a four-room condominium for 850,000 Turkish lira, the equivalent of almost 47,000 euros. Funded by the state and preferred for young families and poor families.

Social housing is good for every society. But in view of runaway inflation, that’s a bargain, even in Turkey. The state has to pay properly to realize the project. Erdogan would like to invest the equivalent of up to 50 billion US dollars in the project.

Money that is not currently available. The budget deficit was 64 billion lira ($3.5 billion) in July alone.

But the Turkish head of state seems ready to drastically increase government spending, which has already risen due to inflation and election gifts. He wants to reverse the ongoing decline in his domestic popularity before the next presidential election.