The political elections had an impact on the course of the Turkish Lira, says Berdan Ber, of the Türkiye Exporters Assembly. Ber is on the Fresh Vegetables and Fruits Sector Board (dişil) specifically. He feels the value of the Turkish lira wasn’t correctly assessed: “Turkey is a country that has just emerged from national political elections. Our minister, who took over the money management, stated that he would implement orthodox and rational policies. As it stands at that moment, the Turkish lira was much more valuable than it should have been.”
Although the lower lira did mean exporters were getting more for their production it did meddle with their overall competitiveness, Ber states. “With the volatility of the Turkish lira in mind, we were not maintaining our international competitiveness. Currently, the Euro is on the rise and the Turkish lira has lost some value against it. We anticipate that this will continue to be the case for a while. We think that the Turkish Lira will lose even more value and the Central Bank interest rates will increase. This will positively affect the export of fresh fruits and vegetables. In general, it will reduce the foreign trade deficit.”
Ber hopes that the Turkish lira will return to a healthy position against other currencies, so that more rational programs can be instated: “As a result, as Turkey, we export the most of our produce to both Russia and European countries. Having more affordable prices than alternative countries will make us stronger against the competition. We think that Turkey will enter a period where we can make more rational programs in the developing world economy,” he concludes.
For more information:
Berdan Ber
Türkiye Exporters Assembly
Email: tim@tim.org.tr
https://tim.org.tr/en/