Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO) Chairman, Erdal Bahcivan forecasted Türkiye to receive larger foreign capital and resource inflows in 2025 as confidence in the Turkish economy has been growing through a stable outlook and extensive state incentives for investors.
Bahcivan said the global economy is entering disinflation with inflation going down, especially in the EU.
“The political uncertainties in France and Germany will reveal what will happen to Europe, while, the second Trump era’s more protectionist and closed economy becomes a strong discourse, it may bring along a number of other question marks that we cannot fully predict,” said Bahcivan.
He highlighted that Türkiye’s place in the US market may be subject to change due to China, and Türkiye may find itself at a competitive disadvantage because of China’s lowering prices in rival markets. “There are opportunities still, but we should not lose sight that there are threats, too, and things can change very quickly,” he noted.
Bahcivan stated that the most negative aspect of Türkiye’s Medium-Term Program (MTP) was inflation, which continues its resilience. “The current account deficit is much better than expected and the unemployment rate has been stable, while the budget deficit is almost in line with the target,” he said.
“We should not focus too much on growth when we’re combating inflation, and although we have achieved much in our fight against inflation, there is still a long way to go, which is why the most important agenda of 2025 should be finding the solution to it,” he added.
Bahcivan highlighted that some serious sacrifices need to be made in the fight against inflation, noting that the industry and production sectors are the ones making the greatest efforts to achieve the inflation target.
He noted that a slight increase in Türk Eximbank-issued credits, Turkish lira rediscount credits became cheaper and foreign currency rediscount credits opened up, while a softening in the upper limits of Turkish SMEs and slightly lower cost in certain employment-oriented sectors will be on the agenda.
Bahcivan said the new economic administration will continue its determination and implement policies needed to keep fighting inflation, as the priority for the ISO is for inflation to be reduced permanently.
He said Türkiye boasts high potential and new investments can benefit many areas of the country so long as confidence in its financial stability and credibility in international communities is established. He added that credit default swap (CDS) figures are steadily going down, which brings positive added value to the perspective of foreign investors.
turkiyetoday.com