Ulrich praises Turkey economy just before his term of office ends

World Bank Country Director for Turkey Ulrich Zachau said yesterday that "success" was the correct word describing the last five and even ten years experienced by Turkey. Speaking to the Hurriyet daily over his five-year term of office in Turkey which will end by the end of month, Ulrich said, "Turkey has considerably decreased its public debt and ensured budgetary discipline over this period of time. It has also continued to grow despite the global crisis and recovered its economy in the shortest time possible. Above all, Turkey could succeed in decreasing its current deficit and unemployment rate." Ulrich added that before he started to work in Turkey, he expected to see a young and dynamic country, saying, "I could see that all my expectations were real in Turkey. Besides its economic achievements, Turkey could also made other important reforms the results of which will be seen in the course of time. The social security reform is one of them. Besides, vitally important steps were taken in fields of education, health, renewable energy and environment. Most of all, income per capita has increased to currently amount to 10,000 American dollars. In other words, there are amount of money in people's pockets has increased." Ulrich also expressed regret that Turkey's credit rating has not been increased despite all of these achievements, arguing that this situation derived from the atmosphere of certainty caused by the crisis in Europe.