ANKARA
World Bank's director for Turkey has said Turkey had made significant progress over the last decade and it had become a regional and global player.
Martin Raiser, World Bank Country Director for Turkey, commented on the latest economic developments in an exclusive interview with AA.
Pointing to the first issue of Turkey Regular Economic Brief published last week, Raiser said, "For this year, we have projected a roughly 3 percent growth which is not bad if you look at Turkey's neighbors particularly in Europe which are struggling to have a positive growth".
Raiser said the real question over the medium term would be how to get to a growth rate of 5 to 7 percent that would allow Turkey to converge rapidly to high-income levels.
"No country can take it for granted that they will at some point become rich. Turkey has made significant progress in the last decade, but it will have to do further work," he said.
Commenting on several rating agencies' downgrading Turkey's ratings, Raiser said, "We really don't look so much at the short-term variations. We really look at the long-term prospects, the long-term potential. We think that is good in Turkey".
He said the reforms to be implemented by Turkey would help the country achieve some of its long-term ambitions such as getting into the top 10 globally high-income countries by 2023 and achieving half a trillion in exports.
"It requires quite a hard work by the private sector and the public sector, but we are there to support Turkey in achieving this. And if this is all happening, my sense is the rating agencies cannot but ignore the progress that is going to take place," he said.
Responding to a question on the projects with priority for World Bank financing, Raiser pointed to the recently announced Country Partnership Strategy for Turkey, saying projects that would benefit from the bank's financing would be determined within the framework of such strategy.
The director said renewable energy and energy efficiency were particularly important areas for the World Bank.
Responding to a question on the Eurozone debt crisis, Raiser said, "Quite possibly, that is going to continue for some time, so emerging markets need to be prepared".
He underscored the importance of running a conservative fiscal policy, getting current account deficit under control and taking measures to create attractive markets for business and investment.
"When you look at Europe, you find more countries that are not doing badly than the countries that are in trouble. When you look across the various elements of the European growth model, you find that, in a lot of areas, Europe is actually doing quite well," he said.
Commenting on relations between Turkey and the World Bank as well, Raiser said, "Turkey is emerging as a global and regional player. And that means the role World Bank plays in the country also needs to evolve alongside with that".
Pointing to the 1.1 billion USD in new loans approved for Turkey this year, Raiser said, "That's very good. But in the future, the headlines are going to be much less about the amount of money that we lend and much more about the kind of partnership that we can leverage with Turkey".
"Hopefully, you will think about the World Bank increasingly in Turkey not just as a financial bank, but also as a knowledge bank and as a forum for connections and for helping Turkey play a regional and global role effectively," he said.
