15.02.2019 İzmir
Speaking at the “Step by Step Economy,” attended by the Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak and organized by jointly the chambers and Exchanges of İzmir, the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that he believes a new period of economic breakthrough will begin.
Hosted
by the İzmir Chamber of Commerce President Mahmut Özgener, Aegean Region Industry
Chamber President Ender Yorgancılar and İzmir Commodity Exchange President Işınsu
Kestelli, the business community of İzmir found opportunity to relay their problems
and troubles to the Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak first-hand. Developments
in the economy were discussed at the meeting attended by TOBB President
Hisarcıklıoğlu and Minister Albayrak.
TOBB
President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu started his speech by congratulating the Presidents
of the İzmir Chamber of Commerce, Aegean Region Chamber of Commerce and Izmir
Commodity Exchange, who organized the consultation meeting in cooperation.
Pointing out that İzmir is a city that has written many success stories,
Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “A small port town in the beginning, from the 18th
century onwards, İzmir became one of the largest port cities in Europe. Today, İzmir,
with its 8 universities, 13 OIZs, 2 free zones, 3 technology development zones
and 4 international container ports, is the star of both our country and the
Mediterranean Sea. By itself, it generates 6% of national income, 7% of industrial
production and exports as well as 12% of tax revenue for our country. I am
proud of our entrepreneurial brothers of İzmir, who are the authors of all these
successes.”
- New breakthrough period
Hisarcıklıoğlu,
urging İzmir business community to keep up the pace of business, to continue the
pace and to continue developing İzmir, thanked Nihat Zeybekçi and Minister of Treasury
and Finance Berat Albayrak in regards to their role in addressing the troubles
of the business community, the TOBB President said, “It is of the utmost
importance that the Minister is here with us, which shows us the importance
afforded by him to İzmir and our community. We relayed the issues on İzmir’s
agenda at the TOBB Turkey Economy Summit attended by President Erdoğan and
various Ministers on January21st. President Yorgancılar,
representing the Aegean Region, presented your demands at the summit.
We
have begun to see positive developments regarding the issues we conveyed to our
government. Under the leadership of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, many actions
have been implemented which have recently relieved our private sector and
reduced our burdens. Today, he wanted to listen to your problems, opinions and
suggestions in person. He came here with his team. Thanks to his vision and
dynamism, I believe that a new period of breakthrough in the economy will
begin.”
- Turkish business world will
overcome this bump
M.
Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, stating that the Turkish business world, despite all the
obstacles they faced, have proved what they are capable of many times over in
the past, said, “With the cooperation and consultation between the private
sector and public sector, we have overcome many difficulties. At the foundation
of all the gains Turkey has achieved in recent years, lies confidence and
stability.
In
the coming period, we know that we will overcome all the troubles by
maintaining confidence and stability. As Turkey's real sector, we will continue
to work and produce more to make our country and our nation more prosperous. We
will overcome this bump in the road and continue on our way.”
TOBB
President Hisarcıklıoğlu noted that the dialogue meeting held in Izmir together
with the Turkey Banks Union in the recent weeks was very productive and that many
issues were resolved thanks to the bilateral talks.
- Minister of Treasury and Finance
Berat Albayrak
Treasury
and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, in his address, reported that Turkey's
current account deficit could fall below 20 billion USD and a rapid transition
to a period of current account surplus transition is fast approaching, noting
that relief in the economy would be felt strongly beginning in April.
Starting
his speech with the words of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk at the İzmir Economic
Congress held on February 17th, 96 years ago, Minister Albayrak
stated that Atatürk's words then shed light on today.
Emphasizing
that they kept a very strong stance in order to minimize the effects of
financial fluctuations experienced since August of last year, Albayrak went on:
“We
have embarked on a historical fight to preserve the peace and prosperity of
this great nation. We have left behind this turbulence in a fight none could
not predict even through strong coordination of all our institutions in every
field of economy. We are confident that economic troubles will be overcome
within the program period, perhaps even earlier.
We
have seen this as an opportunity for rebalancing. With a disciplined and
change-oriented motivation, we can clearly see that at the end of 2021,
economic activity will be transformed into a structure with higher added value
production in all sectors.”
- Improvements in all indicators
Stating
that the Turkish economy has entered a period of rebalancing with no quarter
given, despite many financial attacks, in regards to fiscal discipline and low
debt rates, Albayrak said:
“Three
important issues have been brought up since July-August. Fiscal discipline,
combating inflation and the current account balance. In the last 6 months, we
have shown great resilience in these fields which were regarded as points of
fragility for Turkey. The point we’ve reached today, has seen us taking
decisive steps to never be vulnerable against these factors ever again. We are
observing a much earlier recovery and regaining of balance. These are the
latest current figures, As of the end of January, the 12-month current account
balance figures show that current account deficit will fall below 20 billion USD.
Turkey is rapidly heading towards a transition to a state of current account surplus.”
Albayrak
stated that the positive effects of the financial markets were observed in a
short period of time as a result of measures taken in time and with
determination and that all indicators showed improvement compared to August.
- Commodity-Exchange Presidents relayed
their demands
İzmir
Commodity Exchange (ITB) President Işınsu Kestelli also pointed out that Turkey
has achieved exemplary success in the last 16 years.
Reporting
that, in the last 16 years, Turkey has tripled its economic size and increased the
per capita income to 10,000 USD, Kestelli said, “The leadership of political
stability has played a big role in this achievement. In these 16 years we have
been continually tested, just as we were tested constantly in the last century.
I wholeheartedly say that we have the power and potential to overcome these
challenges.”
Aegean
Region Chamber of Industry (EBSO) President Ender Yorgancılar said that
production is a matter of heart.
Stating
that it is necessary to convince the EU that Turkey is the only alternative to
the UK in regards to Brexit, Yorgancılar stated that they appreciate the efforts
for the modernization of the customs union agreement.
İzmir
Chamber of Commerce (IZTO) President Mahmut Özgener pointed out that the
government took appropriate and timely measures against foreign exchange fluctuations
in August.
İzmir
Metropolitan Municipality Mayoral Candidate Nihat Zeybekci urged the
representatives of the chamber and the commodity exchanges to be on the side of
İzmir.