Capital markets should fuel Turkey’s growth: Association head

Güneş Kömürcüler - ISTANBUL

Capital markets should take a higher share in fueling Turkey’s high growth rate, according to a leading sector representative.

Turkish Capital Markets Association (TSPB) President İlhami Koç has said the country’s economic growth has received backing mainly from foreign funds and the banking industry in recent years.

“Turkey’s high growth rate figures highly in the country’s economic narrative. But there is a problem with its financing, which is mainly supported by foreign funds and banks. We should increase domestic savings and capital markets in order to finance growth. We should also take steps to attract more foreign funds,” Koç said at the TSPB headquarters in Istanbul ahead of a key summit, which will take place on Nov. 14-15.

A number of key subjects, including the financing of growth and new technological breakthroughs in capital markets, will be discussed at the Turkish Capital Markets Summit in Istanbul under the theme of “Growth for Our Future.”

Globally renowned economist Prof. James A. Robinson, who is co-author of “Why Nations Fail” along with MIT economist Daron Acemoğlu, is one of the keynote speakers at the summit.

Both personal savings and public savings should be used to fuel Turkey’s economic growth, Koç said.

“Unfortunately due to the prevalence of short-term thinking and short-term debts in Turkey, savings are at low rates. For this reason the capital markets cannot presently function as a long-term investment source,” he added, arguing that more public funds should evaluate their savings in these markets in order to create new financing.

Koç also said more should be done to increase interest in capital markets. How these markets can make bigger contributions to financing economic growth will also be discussed at the Istanbul summit, while the Istanbul Finance Center project will be another key point in discussions.