Deputy PM says structural reforms key for growth

ISTANBUL

The Turkish deputy prime minister for the economy said on Friday that the country needed to speed up structural reforms to reach 5 percent of annual growth.

“We can only succeed in reaching 5 percent growth by speeding up the reform process,” Mehmet Simsek said speaking on the second day of the Forum Istanbul conference on economic matters.

“We cannot reach 5 percent of growth with current efforts,” Simsek added. “Meeting a medium-term high growth target depends on a strong implementation of structural reforms.”

Noting that global markets had begun the year poorly, Simsek said that a 3 percent growth would not have been thought possible in January.

“There are fundamental problems both in the Turkish [economy] and in the world,” he said.

Simsek said that the ruling Justice and Development, or AK, Party had attempted to deal with reforms since it came to power in 2002.

"Since the beginning of the 2000s, a lot of Turkey's structural problems have been discussed in detail; [we] produced solutions for some of them. But the reform process is dynamic and requires continuity,” he said.

He also added that one of the most important elements of the structural agenda was reform of the labor market.

Earlier this week, the European Commission revised Turkey’s growth forecasts upwards for 2016 and 2017.

In its Spring 2016 Economic Forecast report, the commission predicted Turkey to grow 3.5 percent this year and 2017, both 0.1 percentage point higher than forecasts released in previous research.