ISTANBUL - State Minister Kursad Tuzmen said on Thursday that he believed that rate of exchange would be balanced by itself in coming days.
Replying to questions of reporters about the negative effect of decrease in rate of exchange on exporters prior to his departure for Pakistan, Tuzmen said, ''our efforts continue to reduce input costs of exporters. When the current course of the rate of exchange is taken into consideration, we see that our exporters face big problems. But, I believe that the rate of exchange will be balanced by itself in coming days. And, exporters will increase its market share also making use of their experiences.''
Tuzmen went on saying, ''Turkey doesn't meet any problems in sales in Euro markets. But, a problem occurs as it buys a great deal of its inputs over Turkish lira (TL) and Euro but makes exportation in U.S. dollar markets. The U.S. market is a typical example of this.''
''According to first six-month figures, exports to EU countries like Britain, Germany and France increased by 50 percent. But, it is around 17 percent when our export to the United States is taken into account. When rate of exchange is balanced by itself, Turkey will not have any problem in filling U.S. quotas,'' Tuzmen said.
Replying to a question about possibilities of Turkish firms to get more share in Iraqi market, Tuzmen said that contracts made by Turkey before were being put into practice one by one.
Tuzmen noted, ''Iraq is always an important neighbor of us. And, we will continue to export to this country.''
Stating that significant increase was recorded in exports to Iran, Syria and Greece, Tuzmen said, ''we had been in difficult markets in difficult times. But, I believe that we are in the right place in the right time now.''
(BRC-AÖ) 15.07.2003