Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu stated that political parties and the private sector should both avoid making promises which would imbalance public finance, pointing to his statements on the subject in May.

In his previous statement, Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Global competition is heating up. Preserving the dynamism of the private sector is now more important than ever. Therefore, we should avoid increasing the burdens on our companies and shy away from policies which would decrease our competitive power. Political parties, while making promises, should keep this situation in mind and act sensibly and responsibly. We will be able to act faster, invest more, produce, employ and export more for our country the less we are burdened.

We stress the importance of financial discipline on all platforms. If financial discipline is disrupted and public finance has a deficit, the price is paid by the whole country. Both taxes and interest rates increase and those who work lose while rentiers reap the benefits. The budget should be robust so that the economy is robust. Turkey has, after many years, closed in on a balanced budget. We must steer well away from uncalculated promises which threaten budgetary balance and clash with financial discipline for the wellbeing of our country.”