NEWS FROM TÜRKİYE

The New Anatolian – Turkish Finance Minister Kemal Unakitan invited foreign companies to Türkiye for their research and development investments, adding that the government was planning to introduce new legal arrangements that would bring new facilities for research and development. Speaking at "the Turkish-Italian Media Forum: Understanding Türkiye," Unakitan said Türkiye's economy grew by an average of 7.3 percent over the last four years. "Türkiye has become a country which has grown for the last 23 consecutive quarters, a first in the history of the country," he said. "Türkiye's gross national income would reach 489 billion USD in 2007, which was just 181 billion USD in 2002. The figures will reach 520 billion USD, which means a 3 percent growth by the end of 2008" he stated. Unakitan said per capita income in Türkiye would exceed 7 thousand USD by the end of 2008. Recalling that Türkiye has seen an average 70 percent inflation rate between 1990 and 2000, Unakitan stressed current inflation rate was 8.4 percent. "And now our goal is first to reduce the inflation rate to 4 percent and bring it well under that figure. We are continuing our fight against inflation very tightly," he explained. Finance minister also said Türkiye's exports reached 105 billion USD in 2007 from 36 billion USD in 2002. "And we are targeting 200 billion USD for 2013, and 500 billion USD for 2023," he said.