Simsek predicts slowdown in growth

State Minister for the Economy Mehmet Simsek yesterday predicted that economic growth could slow down in the second quarter of the year due to domestic political uncertainty, adding that this uncertainty has brought an additional burden of 20 billion YTL to the Treasury. He said the domestic uncertainty has a much bigger impact on Turkey than global developments. "Both we and foreign and Turkish analysts believe that in the absence of political uncertainty, Turkey would have been among the countries least affected by the global crisis," he explained. "Because our economy was in a normalization period." He added that the government was continuing to make structural reforms to achieve sustainable growth in the medium and long term despite the domestic political tension. "With its very high budget performance, Turkey doesn't deserve this economic situation," he said.