Erdoğan calls on businessmen to take advantage of low interest rates

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called on investors to take advantage of low interest rates in Türkiye and make investments in the country.

“I call on the investors. We invite you to invest with low interest, especially from public banks,” he said on Sept. 25 addressing the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce meeting.

“Because the investments you make with the loan received at low interest will provide employment, increase production and exports and turn the current surplus in our favor,” Erdoğan explained.

While realizing the most important democracy and development breakthroughs in its history in the last 20 years, Türkiye has also fought many attacks, he said and added, “Our economy has also suffered from these attacks. As of August 2018, these attacks have turned into open defiance.”

First the pandemic, then the Russian-Ukrainian war has shaken the economic functioning, Erdoğan emphasized. “Those who criticize our country because of the economic model have tended to line up with us at the point we have reached. Türkiye is no longer the old Türkiye,” he added.

The government has seen that it is not possible to get rid of this turbulent process with traditional methods, thereby Türkiye pursued the “Turkish Economy Model,” which the government has maintained over time in line with global developments and the needs of the country, he said.

The theories of interest, inflation and exchange rate balance, which have been “imposed” on Türkiye for years, do not provide a solution to any problem, the president said. He stressed that the approach of controlling inflation by increasing interest rates is not taken seriously anymore.

“Leaders also began to say that interest rates should be lowered. While Russia had defended high interest rates in the past, it has now started to lower it. Developed countries do not risk the situation that will put the economy into recession by using the old model,” Erdoğan stated.

“As we have always said, we made a choice in economic policy focused on employment and production in 2018. Our growth of 7.5 percent in the first half of the year, our employment of 31 million, and our exports of $300 billion are the signs that we are moving towards our targets,” he stated.

As Türkiye is getting developed, the country needs the support of its businesspeople more and more, the president said. “We will both win and show our stance befitting our civilization in every field for a more just world,” he stated.