ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed the nation on Wednesday.
Erdogan said that Turkey achieved to overcome economic shocks, fluctuations, uncertainties and negative surprises with minimum loss in the past 5.5 years.
He said that thanks to measures the government had taken, Turkey was hopeful for the future and could overcome such global jolts with minimum damage.
He said that with its strong reserves, Central Bank gained a structure which could overcome all shocks and fluctuations.
Erdogan said that CB reserves, which were only 26.5 billion USD in 2002, increased to 75 billion USD in the recent period.
He said that tourism income of Turkey, which was 8.5 billion USD in 2002, reached 18.5 billion USD in 2007.
Erdogan said that Turkey drew 22 billion USD of direct global investment in 2007.
He said that Turkey was the 26th largest economy of the world in 2002, adding that today it was world`s 17th largest economy.
Erdogan said that Social Security Law was adopted at Turkish Parliament last week, adding that the effects of regulations on social security system would be seen in medium and long term, not in short term.
Erdogan said that within the scope of that law, everybody living in Turkey now had health insurance.
Erdogan said that they were now working on another important arrangement which was the employment package. He added that the package would decrease administrative and financial burden on employers, increase employment and decrease unregistered economy.
(GC-EÖ)