31.05.2021 Ankara
Evaluating the Turkish economy’s by 7 percent growth in the first quarter of the year, M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), stated that the 7 percent growth was gratifying and said, “We want to continue the support steps for our sectors that are most adversely affected by the pandemic and do not get enough share of the growth, especially the service sector.”
Hisarcıklıoğlu stated
in his statement:
“Despite the pandemic
conditions affecting the whole world, Turkey's economy continues its dynamism
and its 7 percent annual growth is extremely gratifying in the first quarter of
2021.
Despite the worldwide
contraction, Turkey's continued growth shows how robust the foundations of the
economy are and how strong the impact of the measures taken by our government
in a timely manner is.
In the second quarter
of the year, of course, with the introduction of the base effect, much higher
growth is expected to reach over double digits.
We are grateful to our
traders and industrialists, producers and employees for providing this growth
that will be the envy of many countries.
In this process, we
would like to express our thanks to our President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has
heard the voice of our business world and stood by us with the support measures
they have provided.
In another positive
development, we have already surpassed the $184 billion export target for 2021
and continue to work nationwide as the Chamber and Commodity Exchange community
to increase our annual exports above $200 billion and thus exceed another
historical threshold.
In order to sustain
strong growth, we also think that a decrease in loan interest rates and
inflation, stability in exchange rates should be achieved and this can be
achieved again, as we have done in the past.
In this regard, we
believe that our government will continue policies that support the business
world, production, investment and the employment market.
On the other hand, we
want to continue the support steps for our sectors, especially the service
sector, which have been most adversely affected by the pandemic and are not
getting enough of the growth.
We expect that the debt
payments of the businesses that remain closed will be postponed and that our
food and drink sector can be opened with appropriate measures.
We see benefits in
continuing withholding and VAT reductions initiated in support of the affected
economic activities, which expire on May 31st, throughout the
pandemic.”