Deputy warns of local economy’s ‘artificial heaven’

ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey’s foreign trade deficit has more than doubled to $545.7 billion after under the 10 and a half years of the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) rule, according to an opposition deputy.

“An artificial heaven created by boosting imports with a low currency rate and promoting consumption is not in fact sustainable. Therefore, even a limited narrowing in the trade gap this year seems to have halved the growth rate,” said Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Sinan Aygün, who is also a former head of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO), in a written statement on Aug. 24.

Turkey’s total annual trade deficit since the founding of the Republic in 1923 amounts $792.6 billion, nearly 69 percent of which was under AKP rule, Aygün said.

“External deficits [as a whole] continue to pose one of the greatest risks for the Turkish economy,” he added.