Record Breaking New Exports from Turkey 

The Minister of Trade Mehmet Muş spoke about Turkey’s export figures in June. According to Muş, Turkey’s exports increased by 18,5% compared to the same month of the previous year. Thus Turkey’s exports reached 23,4 billion dollars. 

Minister Muş attended the opening ceremony of the East Anatolian Exporters’ Association (DAIB) in Erzurum. During the opening, Muş touched upon Turkey’s success in exports as well as the recent export figures. Muş emphasized that Turkey was continuing its success in exports in the first six months of 2022 after achieving success in 2021. 

Mehmet Muş continued to speak about exports. “Our exports reached 23,4 billion dollars in June by increasing 18,5% compared to the same month of the previous year. I would like to gladly emphasize that this figure is the highest export figure of all time. Thus, we have reached the highest monthly export value in the first 6 months of 2022. In the first six months of the year, Turkey realized exports worth 126 billion dollars.”

A Reverse Globalization Era

Muş talked about the problems regarding the global economy. Minister Muş stated that they were still dealing with the disruption of supply chains and the imbalance of supply-demand that had started with the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition to these problems still continuing, the Russia-Ukraine war also caused a significant rise in agricultural product prices and increased market fluctuations.   

Inflation rates in the world were also one of the points of the minister’s speech. According to Muş, as a result of these issues in the world, inflation has reached record levels in developed countries. Emphasizing the inflation rates in the US and the UK, Muş stated that the inflation rates were at the peak level in the last 40 years. Muş also pointed out the possibility of a slowdown in the global economy when all the data and the new policies regarding inflation that were published were considered. 

“The World Bank pointed to similarities between the stagflation that happened in the 1970s and the current situation in the report “Global Economic Prospects” published last month. Accordingly, we are witnessing that many international organizations are lowering their global growth estimations. OECD lowered its global growth estimate to 3% and World Bank updated its estimate to 2,9%. In this atmosphere, with the increasingly protective policies and the changes within the global value chain, the coming of a reverse globalization era is signaled.”

Solidarity and Cooperation Are Key

These global issues can only be solved when certain steps are taken by the governments in the world. Minister Muş shared his perspective on what could be done to combat and solve these problems. According to Muş, the solution to these global problems requires solidarity and cooperation more than ever. He also reminded the warning of United Nations regarding a food crisis that may happen in 2023. According to the UN, the rising food prices, when combined with the draught in Africa caused by climate change can turn into a food crisis in 2023. 

Despite these issues in the world and all the problems that may arise in the near future, Muş remains hopeful. Muş highlighted that they were following the global issues closely and taking necessary steps to remove the obstacles on their way, especially in terms of logistics. 

Mehmet Muş Answered Capital Controls Claims

Muş touched upon this subject further and explained that they were continuing their commercial diplomacy operations. They are opening new trade routes and ports with each passing day. Muş also referred to the capital controls claims.

“I want to make one thing clear.  We will continue to support and protect anyone who trusts in our economy, invests, produces and exports. Especially in the last few days, we sadly witness intentional claims regarding capital controls. These are the claims that should not be trusted. Turkey is an advanced economy where the regulated free market system operated effectively and has never and will not compromise on the free market system.”

Turkey’s Economic Growth Continues

Minister Muş emphasized that domestic and foreign capital were in an economic climate where safe investment was possible. He also added that they were not going to change their stand on the free market. Muş pointed to Turkey’s continuous economic growth by sharing the related figures.

“Turkey’s economy grew 11% in 2021 and continued its growth in the first quarter of 2022 with 7,3% where the global economy struggled. In this 15-month period, half of Turkey’s GDP increase was due to our net exports. In other words, our domestic and national values, our exporters, continued to be the force behind Turkey’s economy. On the other hand, our industrial production index which is among the growth indicators, increased by 10,8% annually and showed that the production acceleration is continuing.”