Antidote is investment, President Erdoğan says at DEİK general assembly

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on businesspeople to make investments in order to overcome the stagnation in the economy after the U.S. dollar gained against the Turkish Lira over the past two months, reiterating his call to use domestic currency in trade.

“Make investments. I am saying to you, ‘Go to the Turkish Lira, produce, export and provide employment.’ Because investment is the antidote to the poison they are attempting to inject into us,” Erdoğan told businesspeople at the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) general assembly in Istanbul on Dec. 25.

Indicating that Turkey could reach its goal of conducting 1 trillion dollars in foreign trade and 2 trillion dollars in national income and becoming one of the 10 biggest economies in the world by 2023, Erdoğan called for businesspeople to help the country overcome the stagnation.

“Our government has been given a lot of support to the business, craft and artisan world with tax and registry amnesties and credit support. This support will continue. Our only expectation from our business world is to accelerate the wheels of the economy and move the markets because the biggest reason for the problem is that everyone has stood still,” he added. 

Erdoğan reiterated his previous comments on the current stagnation of the economy, saying the problems resulted from an attack on Turkey’s economy rather than from domestic structural problems.

“In the wake of the attacks on Turkey’s economy, important jobs fall to businessmen along with the state. In this critical period, everyone who postponed their investments, projects and efforts are in the same situation as those who are attacking our economy,” he said.

“Today, we are obliged to demonstrate the same determination in the face of attacks on the economy, just as we demonstrate the same [determination] in the struggle with terror organizations within and outside our borders. The courageous people who put their lives in the struggle against terrorism should be an example to those who put up capital,” he said.
 
‘Interest rates should be low for entrepreneurs’

Erdoğan has once again declared that the Central Bank should lower interest rates, stating that low interest rates are crucial to triggering the economy.

“Interest rates should be lowered. I am saying it again. Why? We have to clear the way up for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs should invest so that there will be employment, production and competition,” he said.

Erdoğan’s view on the benefits of the lower interest rates previously raised tension with the Central Bank which has maintained high rates to rein in inflation even though Erdoğan has insisted on lowering the rates to make credit more available to entrepreneurs.

Turkey’s Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points on Nov. 24 in an unexpected move, ordering the first increase in nearly three years, as a skyrocketing U.S. dollar and domestic worries continue to batter the Turkish Lira.
 
Call for the usage of Turkish Lira

Erdoğan stated that since a failed coup on July 15, 12 billion dollars have been traded for Turkish Liras.
“They were planning games over us, but our people exchanged whatever they have in their hands and released it into the market,” he said.

“A businessman approached to me while I was entering the room. He said, ‘We have exchanged 100 million dollars into Turkish Liras.’ That is the spirit. If we will make our investments in Turkish Liras, nobody can harm us. They cannot anyway,” he added.
 
‘Exports to rise in 2017’

Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci also stated that they were expecting an export campaign in 2017.
“Our exports rose around 3 percent in October, 7-8 percent in November and, God willing, 10 percent in December. With these rises, 2017 will be a start point for our 2023 targets. 2017 will be a year which the campaigns for exports will start,” Zeybekci said.

DEİK President Ömer Cihad Vardan also presented DEİK’s new logo during the general assembly. 

“We are giving this institution, which has endeavored to strengthen the Turkish business world, a strong corporate logo and a new corporate identity by maintaining the traces of years of experience and awareness.

Noting that DEİK had been the example of knowledge, experience, entrepreneurial spirit and courage since 1986, Vardan said the business organization had provided key contributions to the Turkish economy, production and employment. 

“Today, those who have united forces under this umbrella have a big share in this success of Turkey, which has trade relations all over the world,” Vardan said.

New logo, new identity for DEİK

DEİK President Ömer Cihad Vardan also presented DEİK’s new logo during the general assembly. 
“We are giving this institution, which has endeavored to strengthen the Turkish business world, a strong corporate logo and a new corporate identity by maintaining the traces of years of experience and awareness.

Noting that DEİK had been the example of knowledge, experience, entrepreneurial spirit and courage since 1986, Vardan said the business organization had provided key contributions to the Turkish economy, production and employment.
 
“Today, those who have united forces under this umbrella have a big share in this success of Turkey, which has trade relations all over the world,” Vardan said.