Turkey needs 6 pct growth: Çağlayan

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey has to grow 5-6 percent annually, says Çağlayan, contesting the government’s recently announced 4 percent target for 2013. He calls for lower interest for growth. DAILY NEWS photo, Selahattin SÖNMEZ

The Turkish economy needs to grow 5-6 percent every year to achieve the government’s 2023 goals, Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan said yesterday in his speech at a meeting titled “Looking at Turkey’s economy from Ankara,” organized by daily Hürriyet. “You should not be demoralized because of the 3.2 percent growth rate target [for this year],” he said.

“Turkey has industrialists who think that even this growth rate is not enough. We have increased the exports volume by 12 percent despite all the troubles. I say Turkey should not put on the brakes given the exports increase. It would be wrong to compare Turkey’s performance only with Europe,” Çağlayan said.

Turkey should reduce the interest rate as current policies will always hinder the country’s growth, according to him, who is known to be an advocate of faster growth and often calls for lower interest rates.