Turkey's labor market overcomes effects of pandemic: Central Bank head

Turkey's labor market has largely overcome the impact of the coronavirus pandemic thanks to tourism and the re-opening of the services sector, the country's Central Bank head said on Sept. 28. 

Speaking at a finance event in the metropolis Istanbul, Şahap Kavcıoğlu stressed that the main economic figures in the country were positive in 2021.

Noting that Turkey and China were the only G20 countries able to grow their GDP in 2020, he said the positive outlook in the first half of 2021 remained.

Exports continue to contribute to the GDP growth, with figures signaling recovery in the labor market, he noted.

"As a result, we see that non-agricultural employment started to recover primarily with the contribution of the industrial sector and reached pre-pandemic levels at the beginning of 2021 despite the limited contribution from the service sector," he said.

"Finally, we can say that the labor market has largely overcome the effects of the pandemic period, with the contribution of the service sector and tourism."

Worse than 2008 crisis

Kavcıoğlu said economic policies during the pandemic could be evaluated in two periods, with the first involving an unprecedented standstill amid worldwide lockdowns.

In this period, central banks and other policy makers took several steps to prevent employment losses, company bankruptcies, and provide progression for financial markets, he stressed.

In the second period, which is currently ongoing, recovery trends have accelerated but global production is still unable meet demand growth and global inflation has increased due to rising commodity prices, he explained.

The difficulty caused by the pandemic has exceeded that of the 2008 financial crisis...