Turkey Offers An Atmosphere of Trust for Foreign Investors

Bülent Eczacıbaşı, chairman of one of Turkey’s largest business conglomerates, Eczacıbaşı Holding, which is mainly active in the field of health care, building products, finance and information technology as well as a number of other sectors, has said times have changed as foreigners now ask Turks to establish partnerships in Turkey, in stark contrast to the near past when Turkish businesspeople scrambled to convince foreigners to invest in the country.

“At the moment, we see Turkey has overcome issues which we used to think it could not and would never be able to solve,” he told a group of Turkish reporters on the sidelines of the ISH trade fair in Frankfurt on Saturday.

“Turkey managed to have a healthy public finance structure after bringing its debt to reasonable levels. It decreased its budget deficit to 3.5 percent of its budget, outpacing most European nations. It has gone a long way in privatization and also strengthened the environment for investment by ensuring free market competition. It also took inflation under control,” he was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency, elaborating on the country’s economic accomplishments.

Last year, the inflation rate was recorded at a 41-year low of 6.4 percent in consumer prices, and the Turkish gross domestic product (GDP) grew by almost 9 percent in the first three quarters, while unemployment reverted back to 10 to 11 percent levels after hitting almost 15 percent in 2009 because of the global financial crisis.

As a result of its economic resilience against external shocks and the enduring political stability under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) since late 2002, the country’s risk premium is currently below that of some European Union member countries such as Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain.

During these eight years in power, Eczacıbaşı says, businesspeople in Turkey started to observe “an administration where substantial budgets were made and policies were implemented while targets were met and timely and accurate decisions were taken.”

“This has created a highly significant atmosphere of trust for local and foreign investors,” he added.

In parallel to this rising trust in the government, businesspeople have also come to have more self-confidence. “It is self-confidence to know we can compete [with foreign companies] around the world, and we can compete with international companies as well. Even if they export their products to Turkey, we can compete with them. We can invest in their countries, acquire companies there, engage in both research and development, and innovation, develop products and increase our exports there. There is no reason for us to be unable to do any of those,” Eczacıbaşı said, according to Anatolia.

21 March 2011
SOURCE: TODAY’S ZAMAN