Orhan Turan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of TUSIAD, criticized the AKP government for its high inflation and interest rate policy. Turan said that the connection between the Central Bank’s interest rate and loan interest rates has been broken and the real sector was having difficulty finding loans.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD) began his words by saying, “As TUSIAD, this is the approach we have adopted in the vision we have put forward for the construction of the future: prosperity for everyone, progress for everyone, development for everyone”.
In the continuation of his words, Turan, who made assessments about the economy, noted the following:
“As we all know, we are facing a significant loss of welfare and an increase in inflation in our economy in the recent period. An economy with high inflation benefits no partner, neither the household, the real sector, nor the financial sector. The drastic decline in the purchasing power of households spreads to the entire economy over time. It causes quite long difficult economic periods in which growth cannot be maintained healthily.
“WE EVEN FIND IT DIFFICULT TO PREDICT THE SHORT TERM”
On the other hand, the same problematic situation applies to the real sector today. On the one hand, we have difficulty even predicting the short term, let alone making long-term plans. These conditions also limit the possibility of investing. Despite such a drop in interest rates, the real sector is having difficulty finding resources. The connection between the Central Bank’s interest rate and all interest rates has been broken and it is difficult for banks to lend today in the uncertainty created by frequently changing regulation. We should look for the problem not in loans, which are a result, but in high inflation, which is the cause of the problem.
“THE ISSUE IS NOT LOAN INTEREST OR EXCHANGE RATE, BUT HIGH INFLATION“
The issue is not credit, interest or exchange rate, in fact, it is precisely high inflation. When we do not fight inflation with the right methods, when the process does not bring us closer to our goals, we try to carry out this process with overly intensive regulations and force the financial sector. It is precisely for this reason that even if you reduce the interest today, access to credit has become extremely difficult. Let’s not forget that no matter how important it is for the real sector to function healthily in an economy, it is essential that the banking sector that funds that real sector also functions healthily.
We should solve these issues at the right time with the right policies and get our economy out of the inflation-exchange rate-interest spiral. We should spend our energy on understanding the changing system in the global economy and how to adapt to this system.”
ERDOGAN HAD TARGETED TUSIAD CHAIRMAN WHILE AGO
A while ago, President and AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan had targeted the President of TUSIAD and said, “The person who has become the head of TUSIAD, you cannot teach us a lesson in foreign policy. First you will know your place, who are you to teach the ruling power?”
