Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said on Saturday that the growth rates observed in the third quarter of 2014 are the lowest level in this year and figures will exceed 3 percent in the fourth quarter. Zeybekci also said that they have signed a Special Economic Zone agreement with Djibouti, the entrance of East Africa, and that this agreement will ensure that preliminary feasibility work has been completed so that construction activities can begin within the next few months. The construction of a port in the region, which will offer Turkish goods to East Africa through Ethiopia, was also on the agenda.
Underscoring that Djibouti is one of the main bases of the U.S., Zeybekci added, "The Italians, Japanese, French, they all have bases there. However, as a nation, we are not thinking of establishing a base in East Africa, in Djibouti. We want to build an economic and commerce base. Hopefully, this base will become the most crucial fortresses of Turkey in the 21st century." Currently, the delivery of goods to Djibouti's ports takes around six days and around 20 days to the neighboring Ethiopia. Zeybekci said that steps will be taken to shorten such delivery times.
On the Inward Processing Regime, which is deemed as one of the most important instruments in trade finance, Zeybekci gave a reminder that the regional directorates under the Economy Ministry are now responsible for the cancellation of the Inward Processing Licenses and the ministry will continue to benefit from the services of exporter unions' staff.
"We have now granted this authority to our regional directorates as a result of our observations within the last year. There are a few dubious issues that we have to deal with. Unfortunately, our exporters have had some omissions; they have neglected very important matters. Therefore, we are now working together with the exporters' union to recover the damage caused by such omissions," Zeybekci said, adding that from now on, the authority for issuing and cancelling the Inward Processing Licenses will be the regional directorates.
He further emphasized that the problems experienced at customs will not have an adverse effect on trade with Iran, and the trade volume, which is currently around $14 billion, will reach $35 billion within the next two to three years. Zeybekci also underscored that negotiations with Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to ensure efficient use of RORO transportation are ongoing.
Noting that the Turkish economy grew by 1.7 percent in the third quarter of 2014, which was much lower than expected, Zeybekci said that the average annual growth of the Turkish economy over the past 20 quarters has been around 5.8 percent. While economic growth continues, the current account deficit is majorly decreasing due to the high levels of exports. "The current account deficit decreased by 36.7 percent when compared to last year, totaling a decrease of about $19.5 billion," Zeybekci said, and added that the government is taking measures to protect local industrialists will support the decline in the current account deficit.
