The business world wants access to financing.

The regular council meeting of the Manisa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Manisa TSO) was held in August. Speaking at the meeting, Manisa TSO President Mehmet Yılmaz stated, “As we have always expressed, it is very important for inflation to decrease, but we must not allow high interest rates to negatively impact the business environment. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that those who work, produce, export, and provide employment have access to cheap financing.”

In the meeting chaired by Manisa Chamber of Commerce and Industry Council Vice President Gencay Esendağ, the agenda items were discussed and decisions were made.

In his opening speech at the meeting, Council Vice President Gencay Esendağ mentioned that there were many days and weeks celebrated in August.

Manisa Chamber of Commerce and Industry Board Chairman Mehmet Yılmaz also said, “August 30 is the day when the Turkish nation crowned its struggle for existence with victory. We pray for God’s mercy on all our martyrs who signed these epic victories and made this land our homeland, and we remember them with respect and gratitude once again.”

“Forest fires have burned our lungs”

In his speech addressing forest fires, President Yılmaz stated, “This August has been quite dry for our country. The recent forest fires have burned all of our lungs. For Manisa, a city of agriculture, climate changes, forests, air, and water events are vitally important. We need to review our policies and strategies related to agriculture according to the new climate events. We must make our projections for the next five and ten years accordingly. We need to use both our water and our land more effectively and efficiently. Considering the increasing input costs every day, efficiency has become our absolute necessity. We need to make ourselves competitive by promoting smart agriculture, digital agriculture—whatever we call it. Otherwise, it means leaving the formation of agricultural product prices and their irregular fluctuations entirely to natural developments. We always say that smart agriculture and digital agriculture should be our most important goal. In this way, we can better protect our farmers and agricultural enterprises from the damages that will arise due to climate changes and competition.”

“Access to financing for the business world needs to be ensured”

Speaking about the developments in the economy, President Yılmaz said, “In short, I would like to share economic developments in our country and the world with you. In the European region and the United States, there has been a relative decrease in inflation. In the US, as of July, the annual CPI was 2.9%. The known target is 2%. In the European region, inflation, which was around 5.3% during this time last year, has decreased to 2.6%. According to evaluations, this trend in inflation suggests that there could be an interest rate cut in September. Currently, the Bank of England (BOE) and the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) have lowered interest rates. In the Chinese economy, a slowdown is observed, taking inflation and growth rates into account. This situation has been ongoing since last summer. It is stated that this interest rate cut is necessary for the market to revive. In Japan, however, the situation is the opposite. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised the interest rate from a range of 0% to 0.1% to 0.25%. Investors who had been borrowing at low rates from Japan for years and investing in high-yield countries were shocked. It was like a small earthquake. Following the 20% loss experienced by the Nikkei-225 index, global stock markets quickly collapsed. We felt the effects of this in our country as well. Fortunately, the markets stabilized without experiencing a situation like the crises of 2001 and 2008. Some sources indicate that the loss experienced is equivalent to 16% of the global annual income. It is thought that global interest rate cuts starting in September will provide some relief to the world economy. While the situation in the global economy is like this, the economic developments in our country are as follows. The Central Bank kept the interest rates at 50% for the fifth time. The inflation rate for July was 61.78%. The monthly rate was 3.23%. The highest increase was observed in education at 104.50% annually, and in the housing sector at 8.08% monthly. According to TÜİK data, the number of unemployed persons aged 15 and over increased by 234,000 in June 2024 compared to the previous month, reaching 3 million 305 thousand. The unemployment rate increased by 0.7 percentage points to 9.2%. The unemployment rate is estimated to be 7.6% for men and 12.4% for women. Increasing funding costs due to fiscal tightening policies and their reflections can cause difficulties for investors. As we have always stated, while it is very important for inflation to decrease, we must not allow high-interest rates to negatively affect the business environment. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that those who work, produce, export, and provide employment have access to cheap financing. We hope that the financing costs for businesses will be predictable and low. We believe that this way, the investment environment can be improved,” he said.

“We continue to work and produce”

Expressing that they continue to work and produce as Manisa, President Yılmaz stated, “When we examine the foreign trade data for our province, Manisa ranks eighth in the country in exports in 2023 with 5 billion 560 million dollars. According to TİM data, the province’s total exports for the first seven months of the year are approximately 3 billion dollars. Considering the current conditions, our industrialists continue to write success stories. These companies contribute to both the local economy and the industrial strength of Turkey. These announced results once again show us that our industrialists have selflessly fulfilled their responsibilities to our country even under the most challenging operational conditions. I congratulate all our firms that work and produce tirelessly, and our valuable members,” he concluded.