ISTANBUL - Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan said on Sunday that investors he met in the United States stated that they expected decrease in interest rates in Turkey and added, ''as interests decrease in Turkey, giant investment companies will bring foreign capital in Turkey.''
Unakitan, who returned from the United States, told reporters that he met with strategic and portfolio investors and administrators of giant organizations which had direct investments during his visit to New York and Boston.
''Interest in Turkey has increased. They have started to be interested in Turkey more since economic situation has gradually recovered. Those who have investments in Turkey want to increase their investments in Turkey. They want to increase portfolio investments. They want to join stock exchange in Turkey,'' Unakitan said.
Unakitan noted that he held meetings with those who were interested in some Turkish institutions within scope of privatization and gave information about Turkish economy.
Asked who were interested in which institution within scope of privatization, Unakitan said, ''we talked with head of Philip Moris regarding privatization of Tekel. They are very willing about Tekel. We invite everybody since we think that the more companies join the tenders, the better it will be. Investors who are interested in these projects don't want their name to be announced.''
Asked if reduction would be made in automotive taxes and if reduction was foreseen in Value Added Tax (VAT), Unakitan said, ''a tax reduction is in question regarding the vehicles more than 20 years old to revive sale of these vehicles and the economy. The reduction in luxurious consumption tax is sufficient at the moment. As the government and AK Party, we will take measures regarding tax to revive economy. We will reduce some taxes. We can make restructuring in some taxes to make the financial sector stronger, because this sector has to be strengthened in Turkey.''
When asked if incident that occurred in Iraq came onto agenda during contacts in the United States, Unakitan said that there was not any politics in his contacts since his meetings were economy-oriented and they were not asked such a question there.
Asked if they held a meeting about joint projects of Turkish and U.S. companies in Iraq, Unakitan said, ''I met with CEOs of some giant companies. They are warm toward this. They stated that Turkish businessmen would take place in restructuring of Iraq since infrastructure is very strong in Turkey, since Iraq is neighbor of Turkey and since Turkish businessmen know well about Iraq. There are many sectors like food, construction and medicine in which Turkish businessmen can invest.''
(BRC-AY) 13.07.2003