Turkey stresses independence of Central Bank at Davos

DAVOS, Switzerland

Addressing a panel discussion of World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Thursday, Turkey’s treasury and finance minister stressed the independence of the national Central Bank.

On the third day of the summit in Davos, Berat Albayrak attended the forum titled Shaping the Global Growth Agenda.

Albayrak said the Turkey’s Central Bank is responsible for not only ensuring price stability but also financial stability.

"Because the emerging economies need to grow and boost employment and investments,” he said, adding that monetary policy should comply with the government's economy policy targets.

Albayrak said Turkey’s Central Bank is as independent as the FED, the U.S. Central Bank.

The ratio of public debt to national income in the EU is about 90%, he said. In Turkey, this ratio remained at 32%, which is almost half of the Maastricht criteria of EU, he added.

Turkish private sector learned lot from past crises

On the balance sheet of private sector since the mid-1990s, Albayrak said Turkey's private sector has a very competitive export capacity since then, maintaining its strong position.

Turkey has a very strong track record of fighting with inflation, he elaborated, adding experiences gained during the 2001- 2008 economic crisis, the 2016 coup attempt, the 2018 speculative currency attack, and the recent developments in the Middle East.

Over the last six years, both the government and the private sector have learned how to react to these shocks and compete within a very fragile environment, said the Turkish official.

"When I compare these last six years to the last decade, Turkey, especially over the last year, has achieved a lot which no one could ever expected in terms of V-shaped recovery, currency stability and export performance."

“2019 was a difficult year but the Turkish economy managed to achieve a soft landing,” he said, adding that last year the economy scored a positive growth.