Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

As a part of his Denizli itinerary, Hisarcıklıoğlu visited the Tavas Chamber of Commerce along with TOBB Board Members. He met with Chamber President Saffet İnamlık and council members. Stating that Denizli is prosperous not just by the provincial center but together with its counties, Hisarcıklıoğlu congratulated the enterprise and services provided in the county in regards to textiles and clothing.

Asked for his assessment of 2014 and projections for 2015, Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that Turkey’s economy and the global economy parallel each other and pointed out that as Turkey has an open economy, it cannot be assessed in a vacuum.

Drawing attention to economic growth rates and unemployment as the prominent issues afflicting the world economy, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Everyone, including developed countries of the world, is focused on these problems. 2015 presents great opportunities for Turkey. There will no elections for another 4 years after general elections in 2015. This means that these structural reforms need to be conducted during the first two years following the July of 2015. There are 2 packages which have been announced by the Prime Minister. He has stated that a third will be announced. These 2 packages are a roadmap for Turkey following 2015. We are in full support of this. If Turkey is able to actualize its economic structural transformation program, we can achieve our goal of increasing per capita income to 25,000 USD by 2023.”

- Industrialization cannot be given up on

Drawing attention to issues surrounding Turkey, Hisarcıklıoğlu touched on the importance of trade with neighbors. “There are great problems north of us. Russia is suffering greatly due to its natural gas and petroleum income dropping greatly as a result of petroleum prices dropping below 60 USD per barrel.

Thought to be a big and robust economy with 500 billion USD in reserves, a great problem is facing the Russian economy. The drop in petroleum prices is a good chance for us in regards to current deficit because most of Turkey’s imports consist of energy. Another issue which might arise is tourism. Russia sends the second highest number of tourists to Turkey following Germany. We trade in agricultural and industrial products with Russia and their buying power has decreased. It is possible that this lower buying power can effect tourism as well. However, we can still be optimistic. We had issues in 2014, especially in regards to horizontal growth of the industry. Turkey cannot give up on industrialization. The 2015 roadmap shows us the way for this industrialization movement. That is why we are content.”