After announcing last week an incentive package worth TL 135 billion ($33.25 billion) for 23 projects, which may contribute around TL 6 billion in exports and create 34,000 direct and 134,000 indirect employment opportunities, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced that more incentive packages will follow.
Speaking at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Istanbul, President Erdoğan expressed his hopes that the incentives will be beneficial for Turkey's business world.
"With these regulations, we have provided numerous facilities, including bank mortgages during company establishments. There is more to it, and we're going to realize them upon completion," he said.
Erdoğan said that Turkey's foreign exchange reserves had risen from $17.5 billion to $130 billion, while unfortunately; this figure has recently dropped to around $110 billion.
He added that they also focused on the public fiscal discipline while overseeing Turkey's growth. He said they have reduced the ratio of public debt stock to national income from 60 percent down to 8.5 percent. "But we cannot content ourselves with this. We will raise the foreign exchange reserves once again," he concluded.
The president said they have upgraded the country with the reforms carried out in the past 15 years, noting that Turkey attracted foreign investments worth $180 billion from 2006 to 2017.
"It should not be forgotten that this was achieved despite the attacks we have faced since 2013. If we were able to overcome this period, we could double or even multiply international investment figures," President Erdoğan said, adding that another important aspect are investments included among the top 10 investments in the world.
"The most important of these was the airport we will be opening toward the end of this year. In the first phase, the airport's annual capacity will be 90 million. This number will reach 150 million or even 200 million in the second stage up to 2023," he said. Recalling that Turkey ranked first among the G20 nations and second in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with a growth rate of 7.4 percent, President Erdoğan said the amount of public and private sector investments will exceed TL 1 trillion for the first time , which corresponds to a four-fold increase. "Today, Turkey is the world's 17th largest economy in terms of gross national product [GNP]. There is trust and stability here," he said.
Stating that Turkish entrepreneurs have the opportunity to find markets in third world countries, Erdoğan said the number of tourists has gone up from 13 million to 36 million, while tourism revenue has reached TL 26.3 billion.
"Our tourism sector suffered due to the coup attempts, but we also overcame them. This year our expectations from tourism are quite high. We are expecting more than 36 million tourists. There are some serious signs of improvement in this regard," Erdoğan added.
The president also elaborated on the young population, indicating that unless they have the young and dynamic population, they will age as a nation.
"It is not possible to reach long-term targets with an aged population. People are the basis of everything, which in turn brings labor, capital and investment," President Erdoğan said. "Others are human's derivative. Therefore, we need to invest primarily in people. Turkey needs a young population. Let's not shy away from people. There are people in the spirit of this entrepreneurship. We need entrepreneurial people. We have to join forces and raise them."Suggesting that Turkey is not only a crossing point between Europe and Asia but a geographical location that appeals to huge populations in a wide area, Erdoğan said they were determined to continue investing more, producing more and creating more employment by providing more support and incentives to entrepreneurs and investors
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