Turkish government announces ambitious economic targets

The government aims at fostering local production capabilities of Turkey by defining and implementing diverse range of action plans

ANKARA-The Turkish government has announced the first nine programs of a detailed economic transformation plan that is aimed at reaching ambitious economic goals and boosting the economy. “Our aim is to increase our GDP from $800 billion to $1.3 trillion by 2018, decrease the rate of the GDP’s current account deficit from 6 percent to 5.2 percent and decrease the unemployment rate to 7 percent from around 10 percent,” Prime Minister Ahme t Davutoğlu said at a press conference. In attendance were of a number of ministers, including Deputy PM Ali Babacan, who is responsible for economic affairs. The plans announced include nine of the 25 transformational programs, mainly focusing on boosting the real sector. The remaining programs will be announced in the future. The first nine-point plan includes 417 action plans. The plans were announced as Turkey prepares to take over the presidency of the G-20 for a year, beginning on Dec. 1. “Our transformational process will be based on five pillars. The first of them is to maintain the balanced relationship between political stability and economic predictability,” said Davutoğlu. The second element of this structural transformation will be to foster human development and human sources, while the third includes the Turkish real sector adapting to the latest production technologies, he said. “The fourth element will be an integrated and holistic economic approach, and the fifth will be the full integration of the Turkish economy into the global economy,” he said. “During this period everyone will see that Turkey’s economic capacity and intellectual level is capable of guiding the global economy for a year,” Davutoğlu said. Nine transformational points The government aims at fostering local production capabilities of Turkey by defining and implementing 417 action plans in line with the nine transformational programs, said Davutoğlu. The first of these programs aims at decreasing the Turkish economy’s dependence on imports. The government plans to launch new subsidies for several regions, encourage the production of energy equipment by local means, stimulate the production and the use of electrical cars and increase the capacity of agricultural seeds in Turkey, among others. The second program focuses on the commercialization of prioritized technological areas. The government plans to support new enterprises and research and development centers by means of new funds. In line with the defined third transformational program, the government plans to enable Turkish companies to take part in more public tenders by making some changes to the existing Public Procurement Law, and to develop more technologies. The other two programs focus on developing domestic energy production. “Turkey aims to produce 35 percent of its energy needs through domestic resources by 2018 by making more investments in renewable energy and giving more credit to energy saving projects,” said Davutoğlu. Another program is based on the development of more efficient agricultural policies. The government plans to increase the number of modern irrigation systems by 10 percent annually. “We also plan to make breakthroughs in the medical sector by encouraging local medication production. We should meet 60 percent of our medicine needs by local means,” said Davutoğlu. The government also aims at boosting health tourism and the logistics sector in Turkey.