Demiralp said a key challenge for the new government will be to give the economy room to maneuver and attract more foreign funds to finance the economy without stimulating inflation. He argued that the goal was to establish the
The six-party coalition opposing Erdogan has an economic team that includes experts such as Ali Babacan, the former AK Party economic chief and Simsek’s former boss, Bilge Yilmaz, a professor at the Wharton School in Philadelphia, and advisers to major political parties and the opposition CHP, including former chief economist of the Turkish Central Bank Hakan Kara, American economist Jeremy Rifkin and prominent MIT economist Daron Acemoglu.
There is no time to take half-hearted measures.
Turkey’s economy still has major selling points, including a strong manufacturing industry from cars to clothing, a customs union agreement with the EU, and an ideal geographic location to supply markets such as Europe and the Middle East.
Taymaz said that although the current problems are significant, Turkey’s economy is resilient and flexible and short-term problems can be resolved relatively quickly. The professor also emphasized that the most important step after securing stability is “implementation of industrial and technological policies.”
Murat Usel, a former adviser to Turkey’s central bank who now works at GlobalSource Partners, told POLITICO that Turkey needs a comprehensive stabilization and anti-inflation program, and that a victorious opposition party cannot afford to be overly cautious in rolling it out.
“This could happen if the opposition takes control of both the presidency and parliament, but there are still risks… The opposition needs to assemble a very credible economic team as soon as possible and they need to work quickly and cohesively. There is also a risk of opting for too much gradualism or not being bold enough in adjusting monetary and fiscal policies,” Uchel said.
