ORSİAD/Çamur: We Believe We Will Feel Recovery in 2025
Forex - The Board of Directors of the OSTİM OSB Industrialists and Businesspeople Association (ORSİAD) noted that 2024 has been as challenging as expected, stating, “We believe that this process, which has affected industrialists the most, will give way to recovery in the second half of 2025. Our hope is high, and our determination and effort are strong.”
In the New Year message, the Board of Directors expressed wishes for 2025 to bring peace and tranquility to both the country and the world while delivering a message of "recovery" in their economic assessment. Chairman Levent Çamur, speaking on behalf of the management, pointed out that industrialists have been the most negatively impacted by economic difficulties in a challenging 2024, as anticipated. He highlighted that it has been a year where industrialists have struggled significantly to access financial resources, faced with pressure on exchange rates, increasing issues in key markets, and declining demand. He continued his remarks as follows:
“INTEREST RATE CUTS HAVE BROUGHT HOPE”
“The interest rate cut just before the end of the year has provided hope. A 2.5-point reduction may not mean much for the real sector, but it sends a strong signal for larger reductions and serves as a good start for a new period. We believe that interest rate cuts will continue unless extraordinary circumstances arise. If conditions remain the same, we anticipate being able to access financing at more favorable costs starting from the second half of the new year, with a better alignment between exchange rates and inflation. As interest rates decrease, we expect an increase in exchange rates. This is crucial for exporters to remain competitive in the global market and not to lose market share...”
“WE WILL FEEL RECOVERY IN THE SECOND HALF”
Chairman Levent Çamur emphasized that industrialists entered the new year not with their troubles resolved, but with their hopes intact. He underscored that they would begin creating resources for a 30% increase in the minimum wage, aiming to enhance productivity, reduce costs, and prepare for a rise in exchange rates. Çamur stated, “There are issues not only domestically but also in external markets. We feel and will continue to feel the effects of various factors, including economic and political crises in Europe, pressures from China, and changes in the U.S. administration. However, our hope that our country will emerge from this inflationary environment and that we will feel recovery more significantly from the second half of the year continues, along with our determination to work, our passion for production, and our commitment to investment.”
“WE ACHIEVED 12.5 BILLION DOLLARS IN EXPORTS IN 11 MONTHS”
Highlighting that the best example of this is the industrialists of Ankara, Chairman Levent Çamur continued: “We take pride in our industrialist friends who have brought Ankara to the 4th position among the highest exporting cities in Turkey with 12.5 billion dollars in exports over the past 11 months. Together with our industry and commerce chambers and OSB administrations, we will continue to fulfill our responsibilities in the new year. We wish for 2025 to be a year where inflation is eradicated from our lives, and peace and tranquility prevail in our country and around the world…”