Cost of closure case: $25 billion in foreign investment
Posted by meb at May 27th, 2008
The confidence of foreign investors in the Turkish economy has taken a beating because of the closure case filed against the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, said the prime minister over the weekend. Speaking to a group of journalists on his way back from Lebanon, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the government had expected $25 billion in foreign investment this year, but the case had created concern among investors resulting in a revision of this figure to $12 billion. When asked for a comparison to the economic cost of a warning statement about the presidential elections issued by the Office of the Chief of Staff on April 27, 2007, Erdoğan said, “That was a momentary incident. However, this process [the closure case] is continuing on knife’s edge.” The AKP is accused of being the focal point of fundamentalist activities, with a possible guilty verdict resulting in the closure of the AKP and a ban on its leading members from politics for five years.
He said the AKP wants the case at the Constitutional Court to be resolved as soon as possible so that the confusion can end.
He said instead of receiving $25 billion in foreign investment, the government has been forced to plead for capital. The prime minister said the government is trying to persuade investors to see that continuity of state is paramount, unchanging through crises. “For example, a French automotive company plans to invest $800 million,” he said, adding that French businessmen had asked if the coolness in French-Turkish relations would affect the investment. He said the government told the company’s officials, “Separate those two topics from each other. Even tell the French government about our stance.”
The prime minister also said that he had persuaded Austrian President Heinz Fisher about the merits of the plan of a huge Austrian company to invest in the aluminum industry.
GAP action plan:
On the government’s five-year $12.5 billion boost to the Southeastern Anatolia Project, or GAP, Erdoğan said he would announce the action plan in Diyarbakır today.
The project to cleanse the border region with Syria of landmines will begin soon, he said, adding that the land will be made available for agriculture.
He said rice and wheat could soon be Turkey’s oil, arguing, “We may even trade wheat for oil.” He noted that this was part of efforts to develop commercial ties with Gulf countries.
Once the tunnel to the central Konya plain is completed, Turkey will have enough wheat to export, the prime minister said.
source: Turkish Daily News
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