We Start The Second Half More Competitive

The severe contraction in global trade in last year's last quarter carried the message of being prepared, especially for the first half of 2023. For this reason, we have set a very modest growth target for this year. Even though things went worse than we expected in the first half of the year, we continued with firm steps. With the trade and procurement committees we carry out, we ensure that our strong sector and products stand out in the global market. We can reap the fruits of these steps in the medium term. Because of this, it is not enough for the exporter to produce and establish business connections. Exchange rate policy also needs to support your competitiveness. In a market with high inflation, competition is even more fierce.

While the struggle of developed countries against high inflation put some economies into recession, the lack of liquidity made it difficult for developing countries to access finance. The monetary policy followed in the first half of the year caused an increase in imports while reducing the competition of our exporters. Despite such a picture, our exports in the year's first half amounted to 123.4 billion dollars. We closed down 1.8 percent compared to the same period last year. We closed the first half behind but will take the lead in the second half.

At our General Assembly and Top 1000 Exporters Award Ceremony, which we held with the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on June 17, we had the opportunity to convey the demands of exporters to our President firsthand. Our demand for minimum wage support to be increased and continued was answered. Minimum wage support will continue until the end of the year. On the other hand, we consider the exchange rate level as a positive development for our competitiveness. Our hand in price determination is much stronger than in the year's first half. The Central Bank increased interest rates for the first time in 27 months, increasing the policy rate to 15 percent with an increase of 6.5 points. As the export family, we welcome the gradual realization of monetary tightening. Although we feel the calendar effect in certain periods, when we look at the big picture, we are getting closer to our goal of 265 billion dollars step by step.

The parity effect has also favored us in the last few months. However, when we evaluated the first six months, we still lost 367 million dollars due to the parity. But it will be positive for the rest of the year.

The issue we focus on most is the unit export value. Our unit export value rose to $1.46 in June, with an increase of 4 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. If we want to go to the top league in global trade, we must increase this value above 2 dollars quickly.

Rising environmental standards have opened a new field of competition. We have to be preferable suppliers and produce value-added products. We are aware that this can be done with innovation and financing.

The steps we took within this framework were the Innovation Weeks we organized, the acquisition of IGE, and the Turkish Commercial Bank.

We will take more decisive steps in line with our new strategy in the new period.