Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launched his reelection campaign on Tuesday, with pledges to slash soaring inflation to single digits and boost economic growth.

"We will reduce the inflation to single digits again, and definitely, we will save our country from this problem," Erdogan told his supporters at the election campaign ceremony in the capital of Ankara.

When elaborating on his party's election manifesto, Erdogan said the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) aimed to achieve annual economic growth of 5.5 percent between 2024 and 2028, raising gross domestic product to $1.5 trillion by the end of 2028.

"In the coming period, with an annual growth rate of 5.5 percent, we will increase our national income to $1.5 trillion, and then our main target is $2 trillion," he said.

After two decades of rule, Erdogan seeks another term of presidency in the elections scheduled on May 14, while the ailing economy with elevated inflation and weak currency becomes one of his biggest challenges.

Türkiye's annual inflation had risen for 17 months to hit 85.5 percent last October, bringing about a sharp decline in Turkish households' purchasing power. The rate eased to 50.5 percent in March.

In response, Erdogan promised to improve the welfare of employees, civil servants and retirees by "always increasing their wages above inflation." Erdogan also offers further financial assistance for the households to help them get a steady income.

"We will establish a Family and Youth Bank, funded by our natural gas and oil income to provide a financial contribution to the youth, to encourage them to start their families, to help their education, employment and childcare," he said.

His government will focus on investment, production and exports to boost growth, aiming to reach the targeted foreign trade volume of $1 trillion, Erdogan said.

There are three candidates who will compete with Erdogan in May's presidential election.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, a 74-year-old anti-corruption bureaucrat, will represent a six-party opposition alliance to run for the presidency. Kilicdaroglu and his alliance promised to transform Türkiye into a "strong parliamentary system" and undo as many of Erdogan's constitutional changes.

Many politicians expect Türkiye's Kurdish voters, who make up between 15 and 20 percent of the electorate, to support Kilicdaroglu.

Two other politicians running for the presidency are 58-year-old Muharrem Ince, who ran for the presidency in 2018 for the secular Republican People's Party (CHP) and lost to Erdogan despite winning 30 percent of the vote, and Sinan Ogan, who is supported by an alliance of small, ultra-nationalist parties.

Many CHP supporters are calling on Ince not to run, but negotiations between Ince and Kilicdaroglu could not persuade Ince to withdraw his candidacy. As for Ogan, a staunch nationalist, experts believe that he has the slimmest chance of winning the presidential race.

(With input from Xinhua)