Istanbul Industry Room (ISO) Assembly’s ordinary meeting in December was held with the main agenda of ‘Economic Outlook in the World and Turkey, Expectations from 2023 on behalf of our Industry as we leave 2022 behind.’ Chairman of the ISO Board of Directors Erdal BahçıvanMembers of the Assembly showed wide participation in the meeting, where . At the beginning of his speech, Bahçıvan wished that 2023, when the 100th anniversary of the Republic will be celebrated, would bring prosperity, abundance, peace and happiness to the world, our country and industrialists.
“THE IMPORTANCE OF INDUSTRIAL POLICIES FOR COUNTRIES CANNOT BE INCREASED MUCH MORE”
Touching on green energy and digitalization, Bahçıvan said, “We will witness a much tougher global competition environment in areas such as green energy transformation and digitalization, specifically in critical products such as semiconductors and on the qualified manpower required by technological transformation. It should not surprise anyone that there is a much more intense struggle for ‘self-sufficiency’ among the world’s leading economies, especially in the fields of natural resources, cyber security and defense, and huge resources are devoted to large-scale investments in these areas. In this context, it is inevitable that the importance of industrial policies for countries will increase much more. This is another reality that 2022 shows us. In summary, while the projections for the new year show that global growth will fall to the lowest level of the last 20 years, excluding 2009 and 2020, it is seen that the economic-political risks and uncertainties are very high. All these indicate that global conditions will not be very supportive of the national economy in terms of our economy in 2023, and beyond that, we need to be prepared for negative external factors.”
“WE SUPPORT THE TARGET OF USING LOANS FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH”
The base effect in inflation, which is the most important problem of the Turkish economy in 2022, and commodity Bahçıvan stated that the decline in prices, supported by the pullback in prices, is expected to accelerate in December and January and to continue until at least mid 2023. We support the goal of making loans available in vital areas for sustainable growth such as production, investment, employment and exports. On the other hand, the same measures made it difficult for our industrialists to access financing, and the financing problem in the real sector in general continued to increase in 2022. As a matter of fact, all credits SMEEven though the share of our investments has increased, the very low growth momentum of commercial loans, especially by Eximbank and private banks, clearly shows that our industrialists have great difficulty in accessing credit. In summary, our monetary policy in 2022 presented a dual outlook, in terms of reducing the cost of financing, but also in terms of limiting the flow of credit. Unfortunately, this situation has reduced predictability and increased uncertainty.”
“I WISH MINIMUM WAGE TO CONTRIBUTE TO PRODUCTION AND WORK PEACE”
Stating that the rate of increase in the minimum wage has reached 100 percent in the last year, Bahçıvan said, “Once again, I wish that the minimum wage increase will contribute to sustainable production and labor peace for all segments, especially our employees. While meeting the expectations of our employees who cannot retire, I believe that an optimal solution formula will be shared with the public as soon as possible, which will ensure that employment and production are not harmed, and that takes into account the sensitivities of our business world, the future of young generations and the healthy long-term sustainable functioning of the SSI. Cautious optimism will be the right attitude for us in 2023. Our dreams, investment and growth appetite must be kept dynamism, but we must not lose control,” he said.
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