Speaking in his “Address to the Nation,” broadcast Wednesday evening, Erdoğan noted that the recent financial crisis had shown the strength of the Turkish economy, which did not suffer from as serious stagnation as the world’s leading economies. He stressed that even though some targets were not reached due to the crisis, it did not cause any unrecoverable damage to the economy.
The Turkish economy will fully recover from the crisis in 2010, the prime minister predicated, adding that international institutions also support this forecast. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) foresees Turkey enjoying the second highest growth rate among 30 countries after South Korea in the coming year and the highest in 2011, Erdoğan said.
Speaking about an increase in civil servants’ wages, Erdoğan said even the lowest civil servant wage was increased by 188 percent over the last seven years, which is “quite a good improvement” taking into account the decline in the rate of inflation over this period. However, he conceded that the current levels of both the minimum wage and pensions are not high enough. “We should not forget, however, that Turkey has seen a great recovery and much development over the last seven years. We need to act realistically to ensure steady and sustainable economic growth,” he said.
