ISTANBUL
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan told a meeting in Istanbul on Tuesday that Turkey’s growth performance in the first quarter is broadly in line with medium-term economic targets thanks to market confidence and stability.
Babacan was speaking at the 15th annual meeting of Turkish Capital Markets Association which was opened by Atilla Koksal, the head of the Association of Capital Market Intermediary Institutions of Turkey and the head of the Borsa Istanbul Ibrahim Turhan, who described the challenges and obstacles for capital-markets development in Turkey.
In his speech, Babacan said neither banking lobbies nor policy makers should promote regulations which, for the sake of short-term profits, would harm the economy in the long term.
As Turkey’s chief economist, he said the economy is based on confidence, which takes years to build but can be destroyed very quickly.
Babacan claimed that the worst of the turbulent times following the global economic crisis of 2007-2008 had passed. Countries are going through big challenges, but the challenges also mean opportunities to do necessary reforms, he said.
Adding that the level of growth sustainability in emerging economies was unclear, he said he expected average growth for the next decade to be considerably lower than the previous one.
“However, we see the average growth of emerging economies is still higher than developed countries. A major part of global economic growth and activity comes from these countries,” he said.
Babacan noted that the recovery seen in Europe is a positive contributor to both Turkey's export performance, and its increased export figures.
“We should make sure people move from one country to another country in an easy way, as good capital and energy also move from one country to another country in an easy way,” the minister said.
Gathering to elect its new CEO and board members, TSPB was initially established according to the Capital Market Law under the name of "the Association of Capital Market Intermediary Institutions of Turkey".
The association, revised to "Turkish Capital Markets Association" in 2014 after the New Capital Markets Law came into effect, has currently 141 members including 100 brokerage firms and 41 banks.
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