Babacan praises Turkey's economic growth performance

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said yesterday that everybody was amazed by Turkey's economic growth performance. "Turkey's 8.5 percent 2011 growth rate is a very positive result, when you see that so many countries in Europe are struggling to even achieve 1 percent growth. Of course, this is a considerably positive result," Babacan said. Stating that this growth derives from private sector's activities, Babacan said, "In such an era, one cannot ensure growth through an increase in public expenditures. The European countries which have tried to do this have all failed, and they are now suffering a deeper crisis and trying to escape this through stricter austerity measures. Accordingly, these developments have been confirming my views on crisis management since 2009." Babacan added that first of all, confidence in state should be built up.