TSAMTO, September 20. The Presidential Committee on Strategy and Budget of Turkey has published a draft of the country's "Medium-term Economic Development Program" (MTEP) covering the period 2022-2024.
According to Jane's, according to a document published in the Turkish Official Gazette, the expenses of the Turkish Ministry of National Defense will increase to 80.439 billion rubles. For comparison, in the previous version of the MTEP for the period 2021-2023, expenditures for 2021 were provided in the amount of 65.893 billion Turkish lira (US $ 9.69 billion) in 2022. Turkish lira. In general, according to the new proposals, Turkey's defense spending in 2022 will amount to 5.05% of the total amount of state spending.
It is proposed to increase the financing of the defense department by 14.39% in nominal terms in 2023 (up to 92.018 billion rubles). Turkish lira) and by another 10.12% (up to 101.333 billion In 2024, the financing of the Ministry of Defense in 2023 and 2024 will amount, respectively, to 5.12% and 5.13% of national expenditures.
It is planned that personnel costs will remain the most significant part of the expenses of the Turkish Ministry of Defense: 55.8% in 2022, 57.34% in 2023 and 58.01% in 2024.
The MTEP program is based on a number of macroeconomic indicators that provide for economic growth of 9% this year and another 5% in 2022 with further growth in 2023 and 2024 at the level of 5.5%.
Jane's Comment
Turkey continues to face the problem of inflation and the depreciation of the lira against the US dollar, which is exacerbated by the global economic downturn caused by COVID-19 and the corresponding loss of income in key sectors such as tourism and industry.
Tariffs on Turkish steel imports imposed by the United States in 2018 also had a negative impact on the Turkish economy, as the government struggled to prevent a default on its sovereign debt in an environment where the country's credit ratings were lowered by Western agencies.
The proposed increase in the budget allocations of the Turkish Defense Ministry is associated with the expansion of operations for the deployment of troops outside the country and a corresponding increase in operating costs, as well as with the acquisition of new weapons to meet the needs for the modernization of the army.
Turkey is increasing self-sufficiency through investments in the national defense industry and through offsets under offset programs. However, some of these programs, such as the Altai main battle tank, are still being postponed due to production problems.
