Turkish businessmen hopeful but want political tension to ease: Top business representative

KOCAELİ

Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, chairman of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), said “businessmen are pretty optimistic.” DAILY NEWS Photo

Businessmen see the future of the Turkish economy bright, but want political tensions to ease, Turkey’s top business representative has said amid lingering concerns over political and global conditions’ impact on the nation’s economy.

Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, chairman of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), said “businessmen are pretty optimistic,” speaking on a survey conducted by his institution to indicate the mood of the private sector in the country.

Speaking at the Kartepe Economy Summit on April 14, he said when asked “How will the Turkish economy be within the year ahead of us,” around 41.8 percent of 2,570 businessmen that the survey was conducted with said “It will be better.”

Even though the ratio of optimistic businessmen is higher than the others, the number of bosses who think “the economy will be worse” is still at a remarkable level with 27.5 percent of surveyors, while 30.8 percent said they think “it will remain the same.”

“This means the Turkish private sector looks to the future with hope,” he said.

However, Hisarcıklıoğlu also noted the bosses’ discomfort with the political tension in the country, which especially escalated during the pre-election period, asking politicians to lower the stress level.

“We want a moderate environment in politics. We want the economy to be the agenda,” he said. “Let’s lower the pressure on each other.”

Hisarcıklıoğlu also said the TOBB delegation shared the poll results with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during a recent visit and will also meet with main opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu to share the figures with him as well.