Economic stagnation not expected in Turkey
Posted by meb at October 25th, 2008
World Bank Turkey Director Ulrich Zachau said yesterday that he does not expect stagnation in the Turkish economy.
Speaking at the Organization of the Islamic Conference’s (OIC) Economic and Commercial Cooperation Permanent Committee (ISEDAK) meeting in İstanbul yesterday, Zachau stated that there will be no stagnation in Turkey, which has strong trade ties with the US and the European Union, noting however that the growth rate of the country will decline. He added that the private sector in Turkey should be supported and that new investment opportunities should be introduced by the government. “Other members of the OIC will also experience slow growth in the coming months due to the global financial fluctuations,” he said.
Turkey’s Investment Support and Promotion Agency (ISPAT) President Alpaslan Korkmaz said Turkey has attracted more foreign investments in the last five years than it did in the last 50 years combined. “Turkey has attracted $60 billion in foreign investment in the last five years, and this trend should continue,” he added. Korkmaz underlined that Turkey needs to attract foreign investors so as to increase employment and bring new technological developments into the country. He also stated that OIC members have enough potential to attract foreign investment. He mentioned that Turkey has also been successful in preventing and reversing the brain drain. “One-third of the personnel in our agency are Turks who were once working abroad and then returned home,” he said.
Hafez Ghanem, deputy general manager of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), said increasing food prices have increased poverty in the world and that poor farmers are the first affected by this. However, Ghanem noted that increasing food prices would actually encourage investment.
Turkish Central Bank Deputy Governor Mehmet Yörükoğlu stated that the liquidity problem will not last for long; however, there will be stagnation in capital flow, adding that countries with high current account deficits like Turkey will have problems in the long run.
source: Today’s Zaman
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