Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey

TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu, answering reporters’ questions on Turkey Statistics Institution ‘s (TUİK) announcement of the 1st Quarter Gross Domestic Product during the signature ceremony for the protocol signed between Turkey Union of Banks (TBB) and TOBB.

Hisarcıklıoğlu; “The growth emergent in the first quarter is a historic amount. We are very happy with it.” Stating that when we observe the growth numbers from 49 countries, we see no others with double digit growth figures, TOBB President Hisarcıklıoğlu said, “Turkey has broken a historic record with 11% growth. When we look, we see Argentina, Chili and China behind us. This is a source of great contentment. Argentina and China have grown by 9.9% and 9.7%, respectively. This is an extraordinary success in geography where Europe is in economic crisis and the Middle East suffers political instability. Economic crisis to the west, political crisis to our east, Turkey right in the middle of both. Yet, despite these crises, it makes us proud that Turkey has achieved 11% growth. On the other hand, our neighbors Greece and Egypt have shrunk by 4.8% and 4.2%, respectively.

Stating that Turkey must always aim at 7% or higher for its growth, TOBB President M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu went on;

“Since 1960 our goal has always been 5%. GDP 5% is unable to meet the requirements of the current rate of population increase. Meaning that if Turkey continues to grow at a rate of 5% the unemployment rate will not decrease. We have set ourselves another goal; Turkey will be among the 10 largest economies of the world. We will converge with other countries. The per capita GNP in European countries is 3 times as much as ours. The USA’s, 4 times as much. This means we will need to grow by at least 3 times as a European country. When observed in light of these facts, we are very happy with this figure.”

- Current deficit warning

“When we look at the components of growth, we see that 80% of it is derived from consumption. A positive side of this is that, contrary to other countries, domestic consumption has enabled it to recover much faster. The negative aspect of this is the current deficit.

When we observe our increasing current deficit, the increase in our imports has increased by 4 times as much as our exports.

In the first 5 months, our foreign trade deficit has doubled. The ratio of exports covering imports has decreased to 55%. To ensure sustainable growth our country must execute the industry policy which will transform our production structure.”

- We must change our production structure to ensure sustainable growth

“We have been saying this for a long time now. If we want to ensure sustainable growth and eliminate current deficit as a risk factor, we must change Turkey’s production structure including the rapid production of interim goods. If we are able to achieve this, we can be one the ten largest economies of the world by 2023.

You can implement short term measures. You can remove this as a risk factor. But Turkey has to change its production structure. We must make production more attractive. We must especially ensure that interim goods used in industry are produced domestically.

I hope that soon after the establishment of the new term government rapid measures to ensure this are put into effect. We are in need of long term economic policies as well as current day-to-day ones.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu, when asked to comment on the vow crisis in the Grand National Assembly, stated that it has not affected the economy is an indication to the endurance of the economy.

- TBB President Hüseyin Aydın

Answering a question about the vow crisis in the Grand National Assembly, TBB President Hüseyin Aydın stated that “Turkey’s economy is more influenced by global incidents than those of domestic origin on a daily basis.”

Emphasizing the importance of growth, Aydın stated that it increased employment and income. He also said that the manner of growth carried importance. Aydın stated that Turkey’s growth could be debated, “Current deficit, funding, these are all debatable.”
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