Let the Turkish economy grow

Turkey?s gross domestic product is expected to grow at around 3 percent in 2014. This growth rate is a ?modest high? when the current situation in the European markets, Turkey?s main trade partner, is considered, along with the surrounding geopolitical risks. However, it is low in light of the country?s potential and numerous advantages, including its young population and unique location, among other things, as leading economy ministers Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Finance Minister Mehmet ?im?ek have both said recently.

Many leading businesspeople have also recently said that Turkey knows what to do in order to grow, but it must do this now.

I attended a press meeting on Jan. 9 in Istanbul, organized by the country?s top business organization, the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜS?AD). The economic message of the head of the organization, Haluk Dinçer, was very clear: ?Turkey knows what it must do to start growing again. The government?s economy and development programs have defined what to do very well. But as TÜS?AD members, we believe the necessary structural reforms are being delayed in the midst of the many elections that the country has seen in recent years. It is still not too late to realize these reforms, which will make an overall positive contribution of 1-1.5 percent to the growth rate.?   

If the necessary short, medium and long-term reforms are prioritized and made in an efficient way, and if public expenditures are restructured for the sake of ensuring higher productivity, Turkey may start growing at around 5-6 percent by 2016, Dinçer also noted, while referring to his concerns about the recent decline in industrial production growth rates and the consumer confidence index.

I quote what he...