Cash flow since coup attempt $1 bln more than exit: Turkish PM

“The coup attempt did not have even a shadow of effect on the economy,” the prime minister said while addressing party deputies on Aug. 16. 

“As of yesterday [Aug. 15], the money that entered Turkey [since July 15] is $1 billion above the money that exited,” he said.

The rate of participation in labor has reached a record 5.2 percent, he said, adding that 28 million people were employed in the country. “This shows that we have seen terror and coup attempts but the economy is not affected by these at all. Our economy is now even stronger than it was before July 15.” 

The Central Bank has not felt the need to pump cash into the markets since April 28, Yıldırım said, adding that the reserves increased to $126 billion from $120 billion. 

“Turkey is still the country to invest in,” he said.

“We will increase our savings. Citizens will provide 90 million worth of savings in 10 years with the contributions of the state,” Yıldırım said, referring to a recent change in the individual pensions system. 
The government has improved the capital in Eximbank and Development Bank in a bid to ease access to cash and support investments, he said. 

Reforms in customs and company taxes are also in the pipeline, he added. 

Also commenting on operations on several companies for alleged links to the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), the suspected group behind the coup attempt, Yıldırım said employees at these companies and companies without such connections should not be worried. 

“We will mark all [those guilty] with a very meticulous study and pick them out as the cancerous cells in a body,” he said. 

“Life goes on. Trade and businesses continue, so we will keep shopping, we will keep trading. Our criteria is very open. Executives, not the companies, are guilty. Those companies provide jobs for thousands of people, giving a lifeline to the economy. Those who used those companies for the goals of FETÖ will pay for it,” he said.