Erdal Bahcivan, President of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry, pointed out that economic growth should be discussed with the question of ‘how’ rather than ‘what percentage’ and said, “What does it matter how fast we grow if it does not lead to a cleaner environment, more qualified employment and higher welfare? High growth should not be the goal itself. Bahçıvan also reiterated their opposition to the approach of ‘inflation at the expense of growth’.
The November regular assembly meeting of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) was held yesterday with the participation of Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz. Delivering the opening speech of the assembly, convened with the main agenda of “The Importance of Improving State-Private Sector Cooperation to Create the High Technology and Green Economy Based Industry of the 21st Century”,
Speaking at the opening of the event, Erdal Bahcivan, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry, said that Turkey is a country with great goals and that the public and the business world have certain duties at this point.
Rapid and high quality economic growth, increase in social welfare, reduction in bureaucratic obstacles, increase in exports and a more qualified composition are the common wishes and expectations not only of the business world but also of everyone living in this country, Bahcivan said. The way for Turkey to be able to produce high-tech industrial products with a high localization rate in the coming period is according to Bahcivan, through long-term, holistic and smart policies that will support the private sector.
Bahcivan spoke as follows: “At this point, the importance of ‘innovative financing’ that will support the private sector-government cooperation and production economy, accompanied by the ‘entrepreneurial state’ thesis, emerges. What is meant by an entrepreneurial state is not the state dominating everything and being the boss of everywhere, as in the past. It is to emphasize a state understanding that fits the conditions of this century without taking into account past memorization and ideologies, and that provides leadership and resources for investments that the private sector cannot handle alone.”
Stating that growth is the key to many things, Bahçıvan said, “However, defining it as an abstract goal in itself is not enough to explain and solve today’s problems. At this point, economic growth needs to be discussed together with the question of ‘how’ rather than ‘what percentage’. It doesn’t matter how fast we grow if it does not lead to a cleaner environment, more qualified employment and higher welfare? High growth should not be a ‘goal itself’, but an output of phenomena such as digitalization, green transformation and technological progress. Because all of these are indispensable for the goal of inclusive and stable growth in the 21st century.”
Financing the industry is key
In his speech Bahcivan emphasized the importance of supporting the competitiveness of the Turkish industry and spoke as follows: “In this respect, the messages that the fight against inflation, which has become the most urgent economic problem of our country, will continue with determination are very valuable for all segments. The view of inflation at the expense of growth is not in the interest of our country. We should never accept this view. We also believe that in order for this fight to succeed, rational and consistent policies will be implemented in areas such as public finance and the banking system, which are vital for the healthy functioning of the economy, so that growth will be based on a qualified and sustainable basis as well as high growth. I feel the need to underline that while taking the necessary steps to establish price stability and financial stability in the coming period, the process must be carried out with a balanced approach that also takes into account the ‘financing of the industry’ in order to prevent our production life from being negatively affected by this process.”
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Work on investment loans at final stage
Evaluating the economic outlook to the members of the parliament, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said that they are in preparation for advance loans with investment commitments and the work has reached the final stages. “The Ministry of Industry and Technology and the CBRT are doing the final work. This program will be shared as soon as we can express it in weeks. It is an issue that we have discussed at the Economy Coordination Board for a long time. Programs are being designed to provide advantageous long-term financing opportunities for qualified investments that will support reducing our current account deficit” Yilmaz said.
Reminding that the national income has exceeded 1 trillion dollars, Yılmaz said, “We aim to exceed 1.3 trillion dollars by the end of 2026. We will hopefully break the threshold we call the middle income trap this period. We will do this in a planned and programmed manner. Our goal is to realize a sustainable, inclusive growth within stability.”
