Turkey's finance minister meets with German business leaders

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish Finance and Treasury Minister Lutfi Elvan gathered with top managers of German companies Tuesday for introducing investment opportunities in Turkey.

Recalling that the Turkish economy expanded by 1.8% in 2020, Elvan said preliminary data signals positive GDP results in 2021 for Turkey.

"Turkey's economy may show a GDP growth rate of 7% as of the end of this year," he noted.

Despite increases in prices of goods, there are some positive developments on the current deficit side, he noted, adding that export performance, decreasing gold imports and a recovery in tourism incomes are the main reasons for these developments.

Elvan underlined that the country’s economic policies are solid and Turkey will remain firm in its orthodox economic policy.

Fiscal and monetary policies will be together in the country, he stressed, noting that "fiscal discipline is one of the most important achievements of the Turkish economy in the last 19 years, and this will continue."

Mentioning Turkey's economic reform package released this March by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for reducing fragilities and improving productivity and competition, Elvan said these reforms will have an important role for strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

He also said the country will re-arrange its investment incentive system.

"We will establish the Investment Dispute Authority to increase predictability and reduce bureaucracy. We will initiate cash incentive applications for project-based incentives.

"We will allow investment contributions to be deducted from tax payments for new investments. We will implement product-based support programs for integration of global value chains," he said.