Mustafa Gültepe, President of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM), said, “(Minimum wage) If the manufacturer and exporter encounter figures such as 500-600 dollars in 2023, we will lose our competitiveness much more. said. Answering the questions of the AA correspondent, Gültepe stated that they have encountered single-digit growth figures for the last 2 months and said that the recession in the European market, which is their largest market, was effective in this situation. Stating that the last quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 may be difficult, Gültepe said, “Our goal is to increase Turkey’s exports by 10% in the second six months of 2023, if not in the first six months. We estimate that exports will be around 252 billion dollars. he said. Emphasizing that the threat of recession has increased, Gültepe said, “We are focusing on the trade delegations together with the sectors and unions within the Turkish Exporters Assembly at the point of entering different markets of the world. We continue our work in line with the targets of distant markets set by the Ministry of Commerce. “We will go to South Korea this week, and to Venezuela as of the end of January. We have made North and South America our target markets, in particular. We will do our best to visit state by state and increase our current markets there.” made its assessment. Explaining that the exporters are experiencing serious difficulties due to the parity change, Gültepe said, “We know that the average of the 2021 euro-dollar parity is around 1.15. In 2022, the parity gradually decreased. The effect of the parity change on Turkey’s exports was 12 billion dollars in 10 months. Actually, we are currently 264. – We were going to talk about a Turkey that speaks 265 billion dollars. With the loss, our competitiveness has decreased. The appreciation of the euro against the dollar makes us more advantageous compared to other countries.” used the phrases. Touching on the minimum wage issue, Gültepe reminded that the commission continues its work and continued as follows: “We hope for a result that will please both sides. In places where inflation is high, expectations are high. We experienced this in 2022. Two hikes were given in January and July. Price Those who give and sell must be very sensitive. We can’t go anywhere by giving and raising prices. We think that the exchange rate should increase as much as inflation. If the exchange rate stays the same while inflation increases, Turkey loses its competitiveness. A downward regression begins in the existing markets. (Minimum wage) In 2023, if producers and exporters If we encounter figures like 500-600 dollars, we will lose our competitiveness much more. We will not have a chance to reach our export target of 275 billion dollars that we set in 2023.”
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