The World Bank’s “Global Development Horizons” Report Presented at TEPAV Delivering the opening speeches, Serdengeçti stated that gold prices were an indicator that there were problems yet to be solved, and Zachau said that while they welcomed the BRSA measures, mortgage and car loans also needed to be monitored.
ANKARA - The flagship meeting of the World Bank's (WB) "Global Development Horizons 2011 - Multipolarity: The New Global Economy" in Turkey was held at TEPAV. The report, which discussed a new economic order with a multi-currency system centered around emerging market economies, said that by 2025 Turkey would become an important global contributor. The World Bank advised Turkey to invest in innovation and human resources and to be prudent in macroeconomic policymaking.
The meeting, held at TEPAV on Wednesday, June 22, 2011, started with opening speeches by Süreyya Serdengeçti, TEPAV Stability Institute Director; and Ulrich Zachau, WB Country Director for Turkey.
Serdengeçti stated that gold prices were an indicator that there were problems yet to be solved in the global economy and stressed that there were challenges about economic coordination and that even countries using a common currency had failed to reach a consensus. He maintained that politicians tried to elude their failures with exchange rate debates. Stating that this picture brought up a new world order, he emphasized the importance of the emerging market economies in this picture, as also put forth in the WB report.
Zachau said that there were numerous macroeconomic challenges in the short term and that in this context they welcomed the recent measures by the Bank Regulation and Supervision Agency of Turkey (BRSA). He said, "Mortgage and car loans are excluded are excluded at this point. This is something we think will be important to monitor and review over time. One important the question for policy makers will be the role of continued monetary policy and fiscal policy." Also, he stressed the importance of harmonizing skills for employment and effectuating the Turkish Commercial Code in the medium term.
Turkey to be one of the 15 global growth poles
Presenting the report, Mansoor Dailami, the World Bank Emerging Global Trends Team Manager, stated that they projected a multi-polar world order with more than two global growth poles in the next two decades and added that Turkey would become one of the 15 poles. He stressed that in order to meet this potential, Turkey needed to ensure productivity gains via innovation, invest in human capital, and maintain prudence in macroeconomic policymaking. Drawing attention to the role of emerging market economies in multinational companies, he added that in the long term they projected a multi-currency world order where the international currency would be the Chinese Renminbi.
Assessing the report, Assoc. Prof. Bilin Neyaptı of Bilkent University stated that there were positive trends about Turkey's future growth although the country lagged behind BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in terms of certain economic indicators. Neyaptı said that it was interesting that the report, which focused mainly on multipolarity, did not draw attention to regional potentials.
Marina Wes, Lead Economist at the World Bank Turkey Office, emphasized that Turkey must not rest, but should first prepare for risks of the current account deficit, its biggest vulnerability.
Please clik here to read the complete report on The World Bank's website.
