Erdogan predicts quick recovery for Turkey next year

Turkey will be one of the first nations to emerge from the economic crisis as predicted by international organizations, surpassing even Ankara's own growth projections, stated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday. Speaking to the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) in Istanbul, Erdogan spoke about the 3.7 percent growth rate predicted by the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for 2010, saying the government was working to meet the modest 3.5 percent prediction set by its medium-term economic program. Touting the strength of the Turkish banking sector, Erdogan told how 158 US banks have gone under since the beginning of the crisis, compared to none in Turkey, thanks to the reforms of the past seven years. He added that the capital adequacy ratio of 20.4 percent of Turkish banks rivals those of many Western nations, including the US, Canada, and Germany. Calling the just-passed 2010 budget a "recovery budget," Erdogan said that critics in Parliament were trying to exploit the economic crisis to attack the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party). "The great people of our nation know the realities and necessities," Erdogan added. He said that although unemployment this year jumped 3 points to 13 percent, other developing nations suffered much sharper unemployment increases due to the crisis.