Central Bank chief refuses 'Bureaucrat of the Year' award

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet

Turkish Central Bank Governor Erdem Başçı won’t accept its award for being “Bureaucrat of the Year,” until he will lower the inflation below 5 percent. AA photo

Governor of the Turkish Central Bank Erdem Başçı refused to accept the “Bureaucrat of the Year” award issued by Ekonomist Magazine, saying he will not accept any award until he has decreased inflation below 5 percent.

“We request Ekonomist Magazine keep this prize until we lower inflation below 5 percent,” the Central Bank’s deputy governor, Turalay Kenç, said on behalf of Başçı during the ceremony, where Turkey’s top six economic figures were honored on March 15.

Başçı had said that he wants to receive real congratulation when he reduced inflation to 5 percent, in response to his being selected as the “World’s Best Central Bank Governor” by The Banker magazine in January. 

Business sector lauds governor

“It’s more special for me to receive thanks from the public,” he had told daily Hürriyet in Davos during the World Economic Forum.

Ekonomist Magazine has been organizing the “Businesspeople of the Year” awards for 22 years and the governor’s refusal marks a first in the organization’s history.

The act is a strong message indicating the Bank’s determination to lower the inflation, representatives from the business world have said, praising the governor for his virtue. 

According to the Central Bank’s latest inflation report, the governor can likely get his prize in 2014, as the Bank expects inflation to be between 3.1 and 6.7 percent, a median of 4.9 percent by the end of 2014. 

Turkey’s inflation was 6.2 percent last year.

The other winners at the ceremony were: Turkish Airlines General Manager Temel Kotil as “Professional of the Year,” Board Chairman of Doğuş Holding Ferit Şahenk – recently named the wealthiest person in Turkey by Forbes magazine – as “Businessperson of the Year,” Trendyol Founding Partner Demet Mutlu as “Female Entrepreneur of the Year” and Simit Sarayı Chairman of the Executive Board Abdullah Kavukçu as “Male Entrepreneur of the Year.” 

Ferit Şahenk who has been selected as the business person of the year, said he’s proud of being a Turkish business person considering the progress the country has made in ten years.