Business chambers want quick solutions for new gov’t in Turkey

ADANA - Doğan News Agency

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A coalition government must be established immediately to revise the growth strategy of Turkish economy, which has made no headway for the last six years due to the problems with this issue, said head of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) on June 25. 

“Our national income per capita remained at $10,000 a while ago and remained there … While our GDP was around $820 billion in 2013, it is around $780 billion as of now. This means our economy lost around $40 billion in the last two years. We need to start to grow faster again. A new coalition government must be established immediately to take urgent measures to boost the economy again. We need a new growth model,” TOBB’s Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu said in a meeting in the southern province of Adana to award local tax champions. 

Leading business organizations, including TOBB, contacted Turkey’s political parties at parliament last week, calling on them to form a coalition government as soon as possible.

After the visit by TOBB representatives on June 17, Hisarcıklıoğlu reiterated their expectation for the urgent formation of a government, while also highlighting the importance of a “conciliation culture” and dialogue throughout this process. 

Hisarcıklıoğlu then warned that an early election would only make Turkey lose more time and would not bring a solution to structural problems in Turkey. He said the forming of a coalition government would not only prevent additional risks derived from global economy, but also could lead to a much-needed culture of reconciliation. 

Hisarcıklıoğlu also said it is so sad for the country to have such a low number of female entrepreneurs. 
“Almost half of Turkey’s population is comprised of women, but only 7 percent of our entrepreneurs are females. This is so sad for our country,” he said.