Exit from the minimum wage of TİM President: If it is 500-600 dollars, we will lose our competitiveness.
Mustafa Gültepe, Chairman of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), made notable statements about the 2023 minimum wage to be determined.
Gültepe said: “(Minimum wage) If producers and exporters are faced with figures like 500-600 dollars in 2023, we will lose much more our competitiveness” and said: “We will not have the opportunity to achieve our export target of 275 billion dollars that we set in 2023”.
‘WE CAN’T GO ANYWHERE BY GIVING AND RAISING PRICES’
Gültepe said: “We hope for a result that pleases both parties. “Where inflation is high, expectations are high,” he said.
“We experienced this in 2022. Gültepe said: “There were two increases in January and July, and he continued:
“Prices and sellers must be very sensitive. We don’t get anywhere by giving and raising prices.
We believe that the exchange rate should increase as much as inflation. If the exchange rate stays the same while inflation rises, Turkey will lose its competitiveness. A recession to the downside begins in current markets.
(Minimum wage) In 2023, if producers and exporters find ourselves with figures like 500-600 dollars, we will lose our competitiveness much more. We will not have a chance to reach our export target of $275 billion that we set for ourselves in 2023.”
‘THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2023 MAY BE DIFFICULT’
Gültepe also stated that they have found single-digit growth figures for the last 2 months and said that the recession in the European market, which is their biggest market, was effective in this situation.
Noting that the last quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 may be difficult, Gültepe said: “Our goal is to increase Turkey’s exports by 10 percent in the second six months, if not in the first six months of 2023. As an exporter from the Republic of Turkey, we have reached the target of 250 billion dollars, which was set at the beginning of 2022. We estimate that the export in 12 months will be around 252 billion dollars”.
‘THE THREAT OF RESESSION INCREASED’
Emphasizing that the threat of recession has increased, Gültepe also emphasized that they are looking for different markets.
Expressing that they will go to South Korea this week and Venezuela at the end of January, Gültepe said: “We have made North and South America our target markets in particular. We will do our best to travel state by state and grow our existing markets there.”
PARITY LOSS IS INCREASING
Explaining that the exporter is experiencing serious difficulties due to the change in parity, Gültepe said:
“We know that the average euro-dollar parity for 2021 is around 1.15. In 2022, the pair went lower and lower. The effect of the parity change on Turkey’s exports was USD 12 billion in 10 months.
Actually, we were going to talk about a Turkey that speaks 264-265 billion dollars. With the loss, our competitiveness fell. The appreciation of the euro against the dollar makes us more advantageous than other countries”. (AA)