President Erdoğan calls on Turks to ‘mobilize all means’ to revive economy

ANKARA

REUTERS photo

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has called on the Turkish people to “mobilize all means” to revive the country’s struggling economy. 

“Let mobilize all means. Produce, buy, sell, employ, invest and revive the markets,” said Erdoğan in a speech to local neighborhood heads on Jan. 4, calling on businesspeople, tradesmen, craftsmen and citizens.

Despite rising inflation, he again said all banks, including state-run lenders and the Central Bank, should cut interest rates to spur demand. 

“All banks should cut rates to let entrepreneurs and businesspeople invest in a much more comfortable manner. If there is investment, there will be production. This will enable all of us to overcome these difficult days with success ... All lenders, including the state-run banks and mainly the Central Bank, need to cut interest rates,” Erdoğan added. 

“We also cannot allow the unemployment rate to rise. The unemployment rate must decline to single digits immediately,” he added. 

Erdoğan also repeated his call for citizens to sell their foreign exchange in order to support the struggling Turkish Lira, saying “today is not the day for buying foreign exchange, but for selling it.” 

He noted that the “unusually high” foreign exchange rates have “filled some people’s pockets and hit some others.” 

“Stability and confidence” is the main constituent of the economy, Erdoğan added. 

“One of the targets aiming at Turkey’s stability and security is to hit our economy. But we have not sustained any permanent damage,” he said. 

In a number of speeches last month, the president had claimed that “certain circles” that could “not destroy Turkey by tanks and rifles” are now trying to hit the country through economic means.