New wave of pandemic: recovery of Turkish economy

Another wave of the pandemic and the restrictions that followed it seriously affected the Turkish economy. This indicates the need to take new serious measures to maintain the economic growth of the state.

Last weekend, the head of the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TÜRKONFED), Orhan Turan, claimed that due to the worsening epidemiological situation, the country needs serious measures to ensure sustainable economic growth. At the moment, the lira has again dropped to a critical level against the dollar, and consumer price inflation is 16.6% - the highest in developing markets.

He noted that the country's government needs to implement a comprehensive program of structural economic reforms to combat inflation, high interest rates, lira weakness and unemployment.

New restrictions on entry have also seriously affected the country's economy, depriving foreign income and support for the national currency. The decline in the number of tourists played a significant role in the depreciation of the lira. In the last year alone, the traffic of arriving foreign tourists has decreased by two-thirds.

It is expected that the situation will soon improve slightly - Russia lifted the travel ban to Turkey, and from July 1, the rules for travel to the EU will be relaxed.

The chairman of the board of the Bodrum Chamber of Commerce, Mahmut Serdar Koсadon, said that the level of tourism will return to the previous one in only two years. Now, local business income has decreased by 80% compared to 2019.

All this indicates that, if a number of steps are not taken in the near future to improve the situation, the country may face serious economic consequences of a new wave of the pandemic. Stimulating the tourism sector, which generates huge income, would be the right decision in the face of the gradual opening of borders.