Yilmaz: In Our 2025 Budget, We Adopted a Citizen-Centric Approach That Cares for All Segments of Society

Cevdet Yılmaz stated, "In our 2025 budget, we have adopted a citizen-focused approach that considers and protects all segments of society." The Vice President further said in a statement made via X:

"The concept of development encompasses a broader understanding than mere economic growth. It is essential to enhance social welfare, protect the environment, and strengthen inclusiveness in all areas alongside growth.

The negative social impacts experienced post-pandemic have been felt in our country as well as around the globe. While the UN Sustainable Development Indicators regressed during this process, social policies in many countries have faced adverse effects.

In all our plans and programs, we are pursuing a dual approach that ensures growth and employment increase while also considering the social impacts of growth. We are continuing our improvement policies in the social arena through macro, sectoral, and micro intervention policies. In this context, the results of the Income and Living Conditions Survey, with a reference year of 2023, indicate that we have made significant progress in this area.

According to the survey results, in 2023, the share of the top 20% of households with the highest equivalent disposable income decreased by 0.6 points compared to the previous year, settling at 48.1%, while the share of the bottom 20% with the lowest income increased by 0.2 points to 6.3%. The P80/P20 ratio, which tracks the developments in income inequality and is calculated as the share of the top 20% earning the highest income in comparison to the bottom 20%, decreased by 0.2 points from the previous year to 7.7. Furthermore, the Gini coefficient is estimated to have decreased by 0.007 points compared to the previous year, standing at 0.413. All these indicators suggest a reduction in income distribution inequality.

In our 2025 budget, we have demonstrated a citizen-focused approach that considers and protects all segments of society. We are supporting those in need by increasing the size of our social assistance budget to 651 billion liras in 2025. To enable our citizens to use electricity and natural gas at lower costs, we have allocated 472 billion liras in the 2025 budget. Since January 2022, we have kept the minimum wage untaxed. In this context, we anticipate a total tax exemption of 853 billion liras, which includes 810 billion liras in income tax and 43 billion liras in stamp tax. Considering the natural gas and electricity subsidy support and the minimum wage exemption from tax, the resources we allocate for social expenditures reach 1 trillion 976 billion liras.

We will continue to strengthen our human capital and social structure through comprehensive policies, particularly in education, health, employment, and social support, and improve income distribution. The decreases we are witnessing in inflation, which we are combating resolutely, will also contribute positively to income distribution."