Time for Turkish economy to leap up as worst is over: Deputy PM Şimşek

ANKARA

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek has said the worst is over for the Turkish economy, adding that it was time to leap ahead for the economy. 

In an interview with daily Milliyet on July 31, Şimşek said Turkey lured nearly $5 billion foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first five months of the year. 

“Turkey left an extremely tough time period behind. Turkey has been in a normalization period now. Our economy showed strong resilience against any domestic and foreign shocks in this period. As our economy’s fundamentals became so strong thanks to our reforms since the beginning of the 2000s that it is quite resilient,” he said, adding that it was time for the country to realize complementary reforms. 

Şimşek said Turkey showed a good progress in its fight against both the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ). 

“It is now time for us to focus on reforms and a solid communication and action plan to recover Turkey’s perception regarding its democracy and rule of law in a bid to achieve a new leap in our economy. After these steps are made one by one, I believe that Turkey would achieve a leap up to the high-income countries league,” he said. 


12-month plan

Turkey immediately needs to raise its predictability and fulfil its structural reforms in the next 12-month period, Şimşek noted, adding that Turkey’s need was not to lure hot money, but stable and sustainable direct investments to ease its main problem, which is high current account deficit. 

“Perceptions on Turkey have been recovering, although we should do more for a further rebound. Turkey achieved to attract nearly $5 billion FDI in the first five months of the year. We have also seen an increase in portfolio investments,” he said, adding that the key point was to maintain the country’s structural reform agenda. 

According to Şimşek, what is most misunderstood now about Turkey is its fight against terror organizations. 

“Some claim that the rule of law and the justice system have weakened in its fight against these organizations… Turkey does not in a democratic recession. It has never given up its efforts and aim to strengthen its rule of law. Turkey does not regress in its record in fundamental rights and freedoms. We just announced a state of emergency temporarily to react to a number of key disasters that broke out,” he said, adding that Turkey achieved to leave dark days behind.