Mehmet Şimşek

Mehmet Şimşek (born 1 January 1967) is a Kurdish-Turkish politician and economist who currently serves as a Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey since 24 November 2015. He previously served as the Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2015, serving in the cabinets of Prime Ministers of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ahmet Davutoğlu. As a member of the Justice and Development Party, he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Gaziantep in the 2007 general election and for Batman in the 2011 general election.

In Prime Minister Erdoğan's second cabinet, Şimşek became a Minister of State responsible for the economy upon his election as an MP. In 2009, he became the Minister of Finance. He retained his position in Erdoğan's third cabinet and the first cabinet of Ahmet Davutoğlu, who took over as Prime Minister in 2014.

As Finance Minister, Şimşek has formulated fiscal policy which has helped Turkey recover strongly from the global financial crisis of 2008. He has also undertaken far reaching reforms founding the Tax Audit Board, simplifying tax regulations, enhancing taxpayers’ rights, and reducing the shadow economy.