Finance minister says Turkey exempt from global financial crisis
Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said that Turkey was an exception to the global financial crisis emerging in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The minister said that Turkey has been outperforming other countries in "all measures of economic success."
Duvar English
Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said that Turkey is a unique case in the world where a financial crisis didn't emerge in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and that anyone who expected otherwise was "wrecked."
"Turkey has been a positive outlier in all measures of economic success during the normalization process. Those who have been expecting and investing in a financial crisis since August 2018 have been wrecked," Albayrak said.
Turkey will emerge triumphant from the normalization process and continue to develop its "exports, employment and value-added goods infrastructure, the minister said at a government building's opening on July 8.
The minister also noted that the International Money Fund (IMF) and the World Bank have predicted an eight to 10 percent shrink in global markets due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that employment and production have suffered, maintaining this wasn't the case in Turkey.
Meanwhile, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported a 20 percent drop on Turkey's exports between January and May and that the foreign trade deficit had reached $21.5 billion.
Turkey was also rated the worst in youth unemployment and access to education among member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Meanwhile, the latest official employment data from the government-run TÜİK was criticized for being inconsistent, as the numbers showed a rise in both unemployment and employment numbers.