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Minister of Commerce Ömer Bolat, who participated in the Istanbul Ready-to-Wear and Fashion Fair (Istanbul Fashion Connection-IFCO), held at the Istanbul Expo Center and which is the largest ready-made clothing fair in Europe, said, “Our efforts are endless to increase export support in the 2024 budget. We will achieve this too.”
In the event's opening speech, Minister Bolat stated that when he started university in 1980, Türkiye exported 2.9 billion dollars, most of which were raisins, hazelnuts, dried figs, and tobacco. But later, with Türkiye's coming to the fore in textile exports, he emphasized that today the textile and apparel industry, worth 32 billion dollars, has become an exporter.
381 Companies Attended the Fair
Minister of Commerce Ömer Bolat drew attention to their support for the fair and stated that 381 companies, 366 domestic and 15 foreign, participated in IFCO, and 30 thousand more visitors are expected. In addition, the national income increased 3.5 times in 20 years to 906 billion dollars, the export of goods increased from 36 billion dollars to 254 billion dollars, the service exports increased from 14.5 billion dollars to 90 billion dollars, and the total exports of goods and services to Turkey were approximately 380 billion dollars. He added that they would have earned billions of dollars in foreign exchange.
Export Support Will Increase
Minister of Commerce Ömer Bolat stated that, right after he took office, private banks reduced the loan rates from 48 percent to 25 percent overnight, and said, “Our Central Bank is following a policy that tries to gradually pull back the loan volumes that suppress the demand a little within the framework of the fight against inflation about domestic demand—increased its rediscount credits to exporters by five times. He increased the daily limit from 300 million Turkish lira to 1.5 billion. One billion Turkish liras will be allocated through Eximbank, and 500 million Turkish liras will be allocated through banks. Hopefully, as the ministry, we will offer our export support to your benefit until the end. Our efforts are endless to increase export support in the 2024 budget. We will achieve this too.” With this support from the Ministry of Commerce, the export deficit is expected to close rapidly in 2024.
