| FROM CHIEF | Murat SARAYLI |
| Chairman of the Board of TUGIAD/Confedereration of Young European Businessmen (YES) |
|
TO BE ABLE TO RUN LONG AND RACE AGAINST TIME |
The existence and sustainability of the stability is very important for our country and this is not merely a temporary exigency. Because, almost all the countries at similar levels of development in 1960's having obtained till today the status of developed countries, Turkey is the only one that has failed to make the required jump to a desired extent due to its lack of permanent political and economical stability. Turkey, in order to become a developed country by realizing its potential, must run long and grow economically with a rate of 7-8% at least during 10-15 years.
And the year 2007 will be a critical year for maintaining the stability for this long distance race and the race will go on or interrupted and we will restart from the beginning.
Political Jams in the Race Against Time
Turkish economy needs to prioritize technological innovation oriented investments in order to raise its global competitive power. The fact that Turkish private sector, with both its manufacturers and exporters, has already been involved in such a transformation process is a hopeful progress. But the events that happened in the past and that repeat from time to time make obvious that we are running a race against time and we need to be successful in this race to achieve this transformation. The most important factor in this race is the difference between the speed of the macroeconomic equilibriums, industries, leading actors of the economy to complete this transformation and the speed of the politics to create crisis and our expectation is that this difference would be positive in the transformation side. Because the politics used to get into trouble before the transformations that would provide substantial profits and advantages to Turkish economy could have been completed and all the acquisitions obtained so far used to be lost as the result of the occurring crisis. That’s why, it’s very important to maintain the political stability.
The Stability Feeds our Entrepreneurial Spirit
The entrepreneurial spirit of Turkish businessmen gets the maximum profit from the stability. Indeed most of the member companies of TÜGÝAD which gathers young businessmen and entrepreneurs have closed the last year by maintaining or increasing their profitability level. In 2006, 67% of these companies increased their domestic sales and 62% increased their export. Despite the fluctuation, the investment tendency was very strong and 79% of these companies made investments to increase their capacities. The main body of our members determined their primary goal for 2007 also to grow: 49% of them target a limited growth while 16% plan an aggressive growth.
Expectations and Proposals to Maintain Political Stability
The results of our traditional yearly survey of expectations among our members show that TÜGÝAD member young entrepreneurs desire to see a President elected with compromise, a one part government and a strong opposition in the picture shaped by the general elections in 2007.
TÜGÝAD members also hope that the positive steps taken in the economy will be continued and think that the management of the internal and external political risks that could affect the economy is incumbent to the government at first and then to the main opposition party and to the other parties.
They expect particularly that the presidential election, which is very critical for maintaining the political stability, is made with maximum dialog and compromise and that a President that could be accepted by a large party of the population is elected.
Proposals to Maintain the Political Stability
In the economical field, in order to maintain the economical stability; maximum care should be taken to protect the independency of the Central Bank which will manage alone the economical risks, the management of the economy and the public authority should be decided in the economical goals in 2007, the program with IMF should be pursued with the same tenacity and the structural reforms shouldn’t be interrupted. The public financial discipline must be maintained and the increase in public expenses must be limited, particularly towards local public administrations.
Proposals to Increase the Competitive Power of Enterprises
The government should declare a program for easing the employment related public burdens on the enterprises and these burdens should be progressively eased; flexible employment should be encouraged; a concrete program must be prepared and implemented to provide support to domestic manufacturers of intermediate goods in order to decrease the deficit of current transactions; the support, particularly to SMEs must be expanded; a ‘micro-program’ must be prepared to increase the competitive power of the enterprises and to that effect, a Work Council must be established with the participation of private sector representatives and the management of the economy. If our above proposals are taken into account and implemented, the political and economical stability will be maintained in 2007 and this will be the major acquisition for Turkey and young businessmen.
