Abdurrahman Kaan, President of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD), made a press statement following the Structural Reforms Meeting.
Emphasizing that the reform movement that has been launched is important for the business world, Kaan noted the following in his statement:
TÜRKİYE’S PRODUCTION POWER IS READY TO TURN THE WHEELS AGAIN AND WITH ENTHUSIASM
“First of all, I would like to emphasize that, on behalf of the business world, we attach importance to the reform movement launched so that our country enters a growth process once again and this opportunity is well utilized, at a time when the world economy continues its contraction trend under the heavy conditions of the pandemic process. The conviction I personally gained during my domestic tours and my visits to our branches abroad throughout my term as president, including the pandemic process, shows that our production power is in fact ready to turn the wheels again and with enthusiasm, provided that the necessary conditions are met. Indeed, the contribution of the manufacturing industry within the details of the latest growth figures and the increase in fixed capital investments are promising in this respect.
Especially within the new economic structure that will emerge after the pandemic process, it is imperative that significant changes be made from now on in our fundamental production and investment paradigms so that our country may find a considerable place for itself in terms of both supply and logistics networks. For this reason, I underline that we as MÜSİAD support this structural reform movement launched before the Ministries of Treasury and Finance and of Justice, and under the leadership of our esteemed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. I also declare that we will be the supporter of this reform movement with all our means and projects.”
Long-Term Solutions Are Needed to Achieve the Desired Impact
"Field information coming from all our branches and representative offices and from our members was obtained. We classified this information under the headings of working life, financing, taxes and payments, the legal environment, sectoral demands, and food, agriculture and livestock.
However, what Türkiye needs this time is a mental transformation rather than micro regulations, and in particular a paradigm shift that will encourage synchronization along the investment-production-trade line. For this reason, we are of the opinion that short-term solutions will no longer create the desired impact in the capital, labour and raw material markets.
We have basically divided our proposals and demands into two as macro-scale and micro-scale regulations.
While data coming from the nerve endings of the economy were being collected thanks to the advantage provided by our widespread presence in the field, we also raised at the macro level such issues as how the components of growth should be shaped in the current situation of the Turkish economy, how fixed capital investments should be increased, and the need to set out anew the economic and legal framework that will lead foreign investors to prefer Türkiye.
We underlined that in the period ahead Türkiye needs an economic paradigm shift that requires much greater care and makes more selective steps compulsory in the areas of capital, incentives and entrepreneurial productivity.
Starting from the point that the evolution of capital into investment and capital stock rather than into wealth will secure for us a more resilient structure in difficult times, both for our companies and for our state budget, we spoke of the necessity of effective project management.
We underlined that the private sector should take the burden of creating capital stock off the shoulders of the state and become directly involved in the system through project-based partnerships.
It was underlined that, in order for reserves to reach the desired level once again, direct investments should be supported alongside hot money inflows. It was stated that direct investments in this country should not be concentrated only in the service sector, nor should they take place in the form of direct company acquisitions."
A Decline in Inflation Will Provide Economic Relief
“The ranking of the ease of doing business index needs to be redetermined and, in particular, the interest of foreigners in SMEs needs to be increased. In a sense, this situation may also be defined as exporting companies.
The dissemination of SME Incubation Centers and ensuring that SMEs benefit from incentive systems to a greater extent. It is undeniable that the contribution which the national investments we will make in high value-added sectors, above all our key sectors, will provide to our price stability policy, especially in the medium and long term, is of vital importance. In this process, encouraging investment not only by companies that gain an advantage through scale but also by our SMEs, the locomotive element of the Turkish economy, and improving the factors that negatively affect their appetite for investment, above all access to space and financing, will both enable them to grow over time and reach far higher volume production capacities and provide positive returns for our employment policies.
In addition, we emphasized the need for the simplification of the incentive, foreign exchange and tax systems, the support of city economies, the prevention of the real estate devaluation system in order to recover dead capital, the urgent enactment of the financial savings acquisition system and the regulation of the market, the establishment of the severance pay fund, and the re-presentation of Türkiye’s legal perception for foreign investors on the foundations of transparency and “justice for all”.
In the courts, mediation and arbitration systems should be reorganized and operated far more effectively for the cases that are pending for the resolution of disputes experienced especially in business life and that create an additional workload for the judiciary. The share of food in the inflation basket is high; in this context, large technology investments generating added value for the food sector should be included within the scope of investment-committed advance loans.
In the basic consumption groups of the food sector, we observe real increases ranging between %25 and 40 on an annual basis due to production that cannot be carried out in sufficient quantities. Public companies performing a regulatory function carrying out production and stock planning together with private sector companies will bring inflation under control. A decline in inflation will lead to economic relief."