Our Honourable Minister of Treasury and Finance, Mr Nureddin Nebati,
Esteemed MÜSİAD Branch Presidents and MÜSİAD Members,
Distinguished Members of the Media;
We have come together to share MÜSİAD’s assessment of 2021, its projection for 2022 and the results of our Economy Survey, which has become a tradition that we carry out at the end of each year. I greet you with respect; welcome, you have honoured us…
Distinguished Participants;
Following the 26th Ordinary General Assembly held on 21 September 2021, as the 7th President of MÜSİAD we have left behind 100 successful days together with our members, our committees and our commissions. We are moving forward by taking an active role in every project that will contribute to the development of Türkiye, that will raise the welfare level of our people and that will announce to the whole world Türkiye’s identity as a producer, its value-added strength and its innovative growth initiative.
On this road we have set out upon, we have focused on 7 strategies in our 2022 projection in order to carry our domestic and national production power to a much more advanced point. We will focus on strengthening MÜSİAD offices in all of the G20 countries and on increasing commercial diplomacy, and we will bring entirely new formations into being during 2022.
The most important items of our strategic action plan consist of the establishment of the Gulf Businessmen’s Liaison Office, the organization of at least one MÜSİAD Expo Fair abroad, the establishment of the MÜSİAD International Arbitration Centre, support for micro-exports, the strengthening in this direction of the infrastructure processes of each of our members such as logistics, human resources and payment systems, the bringing together of ambassadors and commercial attachés with business people in Anatolia through economic diplomacy activities, and the establishment of the MÜSİAD Trade Office (MTO).
Distinguished Participants;
2021 stood out as a year in which Türkiye differentiated itself and came to the fore in every respect in the global arena. We achieved significant successes in the fields of employment, exports, production and logistics.
As MÜSİAD, we believe that the Turkish economy will exceed the export target of USD 250 billion in 2023, particularly with the increase in services exports. Indeed, we foresee that this figure could rise to the level of USD 300 billion.
Inflation, which is the principal problem of all countries at the global level, will be our priority agenda item in 2022. Following the Turkish Lira Promotion Package announced by our President Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 20 December 2021, the Turkish lira, which rapidly gained value against foreign currency, considerably reduced the pressure of cost inflation on prices in the domestic market. We believe that this process is a milestone for the Turkish economy.
The negative expectations for the Turkish economy regarding 2022 have been following a positive course after the Turkish Lira Promotion Package. Our producers, our industrialists, our investors and our entrepreneurs are now far more hopeful about 2022.
Distinguished Participants;
As MÜSİAD, we support the process in which our Minister of Treasury and Finance, Mr Nureddin Nebati, who comes from MÜSİAD, is moving forward with a growth model focused on investment, production and employment, breaking free from the grip of high interest rates under the leadership of our esteemed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. A new economic model has been built that is based on high exports, that reduces the current account deficit and in which the welfare system is reflected across the whole of society. In this process, as MÜSİAD, we will fulfil every responsibility that falls to us. With the package of measures in question, many factors keeping the exchange rate under upward pressure will be eliminated and the manipulation of perception regarding the Turkish lira will also come to an end.
The year 2022 will be a period in which the process of strong growth continues for the Turkish economy. In 2022, in which we believe that the changes in domestic demand, net external demand and investments will each give positive support to growth, we believe that growth in the Turkish economy will exceed market forecasts and be realized at around 5 percent.
Distinguished Participants;
The results of the ‘Economy Survey’, traditionally prepared in the last month of each year with the participation of our MÜSİAD members, also support Türkiye’s growth initiative.
In 2021 we followed a different method and enriched the 10-question survey format we put to our members with 21 questions. The first 9 of these questions cover the assessment of the year 2021 that we have left behind, while the remaining 12 questions contain expectations and forecasts regarding 2022.
One of the most important reflections that stands out in the survey work is that MÜSİAD members entered 2022 with a far more positive perception following the ‘Turkish Lira Promotion Package’ announced by our esteemed President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 20 December...
Distinguished Participants;
The results of the Economy Survey show that in 2021 domestic sales rose, capacity utilization increased, export performance strengthened, equity investments began to rise and employment growth continued. We observed that the number of our members stating that volatility in the exchange rate had negatively affected their business processes declined following the Turkish Lira Promotion Package.
We have entered a period in which the New Economy Model instils confidence in producers, industrialists and investors. To put it differently, the Turkish Lira Promotion Package is blowing a positive wind through the Turkish economy.
According to the results of the Economy Survey, MÜSİAD members are hopeful about 2022. We have set sail into a brand-new year in which the capacity utilization of our investors, producers and industrialists will increase further, in which their domestic sales will rise, in which their export potential will strengthen, in which their new investments will gain speed, in which new employment opportunities will come to the fore and in which innovative opportunities will be seized. At this point, the GDP growth expectation is estimated to be between %3 and % 5.
Distinguished Participants;
As I bring my remarks to an end, I thank wholeheartedly first and foremost our Minister of Treasury and Finance, Mr Nureddin Nebati, our esteemed MÜSİAD members and the distinguished members of the media, and I would like to state that in 2022 we will continue to work with all our strength for a producing and strong Türkiye. With the wish that 2022 may be a means to auspicious cooperation, I offer my respects.
Mahmut Asmalı
President of MÜSİAD