Dervis: Turkey's Economic Crisis Was A Result Of A Number Of Piled Up Problems

ANKARA (A.A) - 01.05.2002 - State Minister Kemal Dervis has said that the economic crisis of last year was caused by a number of financial problems that piled up throughout the years.
Explaining the causes of the economic crisis at a meeting at the Ankara Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Dervis said ''There are claims that Turkey faced this economic crisis because of a mistake made in the foreign exchange, a row between Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister or the Central Bank's failure to perform its duties on that day. Unfortunately, these were not the reasons why we found ourselves in an economic crisis. Otherwise, we would have recovered from it much quicker.'' He added that many other problems which piled up thoughout the years were the real cause of this crisis.
''1980s were the best years for Turkey,'' he continued. ''The economy grew between 1981 and 1988 and Turkey's export reached a top level. The real problem started after 1987-1988 and then they remained unresolved.''
Dervis indicated that Turkey made no profit from production after mid-1990s. ''The only profit made was from financial transactions, from high interest rates but the industry made no profit,'' he said.
Dervis maintained that this was a very heavy economic crisis which is difficult to recover from.
He also pointed out that the economies of the United States and several European countries also shrank after Sept. 11 attacks, a situation which made the crisis in Turkey even worse.
Dervis said Turkey left behind the worst part of the crisis and implemented a finance policy with great success. He thanked Finance Minister Sumer Oral and his ministry for their efforts.
He explained that they considered several options to take Turkey out of the crisis including not to pay some of Turkey's debts. ''But we decided not to because we knew what happens to countries which do that. Therefore we avoided an adventure,'' he said.
DERVIS:''LOW FOREIGN CURRENCY RATE IS A BIG CHANCE TO BRING DOWN INFLATION''
Dervis said that only the Central Bank could interfere with the foreign currency rates and added that the foreign currency rates will soon reach a certain level and find its real value.
Speaking at a meeting at the Ankara Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, Dervis said that low foreign currency rate was a chance to bring inflation down. He also indicated that three percent growth rate was a realistic target and denied that this was a too optimistic figure.
Dervis said that Turkish people were happy to have two percent monthly inflation rate adding that this was the annual inflation rate in some countries.
He explained that many laws were passed regarding the Central Bank, Banking Supervision and Regulation Agency, agriculture, energy and civil aviation fields but most of these were not put into practice yet.
Speaking about the importance of labor unions, workers and farmers in Turkey, Dervis said ''Social peace should not be risked. I recently had a meeting with Bayram Meral for two and a half hour and we were able to resolve many problems. Peace with the working class in very important.''