Those who have been following me on social media and television would know by now what my mission is exactly. “Helping people do the right thing, rather than voicing the right thing”.
Regarding the economic package released just yesterday, the mountain hasn’t exactly laboured and brought forth a mouse, and it’s also wrong to think how on the earth we will find these funds.
For instance, the government should easily allocate a 50-billion TRY budget to the CGF just like it granted a budget of 12 billion to the Department of Religious Affairs. Government is wise; it should do whatever is necessary. It may transfer budgets between agencies if need be. I don’t want point any fingers but if people are asked to make sacrifices, we all know who should do it first. That’s why government should not ask, “Where to find funds?” because funds can easily be found. The only thing we should do is to cut the budgets of government agencies that spend drastic and unnecessary amounts of money. Besides, it’s totally nonsensical to say, “Budget deficit will grow larger” when things are already complicated. We should be mad at ourselves because we failed to adhere by budgetary disciplines rules when everything was going well, financially speaking. But today, we should follow the rules and act according to the situation. You must have noticed that I always say “we”, because it’s time for solidarity. Otherwise, we, people, are not to blame for extraordinarily large levels of government spending.
You can’t say, “The mountain laboured and brought forth a mouse” either, in other words, the results weren’t completely disappointing after all the efforts that were made. The government only has a limited might, for the moment. It doesn’t renounce pursuing payments of debts owed by individuals or businesses; it only postpones collecting it for a while. Luckily, there is no interest rate involved. And it also believes in the multiplier effect of the 100-billion TRY financial support package.
Such economic packages always have twofold, three-fold or sometimes four-fold effect of reviving the economy. The formula called “multiplier effect” in Macroeconomics is clear. Boosted by a government funding, an economy can be improved by a multiplier effect which is determined according to people’s spending tendency. The chance of success of this method which is used to overcome recession is dependent upon the amount of the funding and people’s morale. Right now, we all know our current mood with this amount of funding in hand. That’s why I said it would have twofold, three-fold or four-fold effect. A bigger effect would be quite shocking.
This package, comprising direct and indirect funding for Exports, Retails, Tourism and Housing, also makes some promises to the retirees and the unemployed. If all these promises could turn into a reality in the fastest way possible, we may achieve the desired result. If people are asked to meet more flexible requirements when applying for loans, which will be given after debt amnesty and with support of CGF, the chance of success of this economic package would be guaranteed.
Maybe one of the most important parts of this package is that it attaches a great important to job creation. I think companies won’t have difficulty receiving funding as long as they don’t any of their employees go during this hard period. I have also realized that the package was designed in a way to eliminate one of Turkey’s wrongdoings.
Turkey ranks at the bottom among other OECD countries in terms of the ratio of financial assistance for needy families to GDP. The fact that the package has revealed more financial assistance to families hopefully helps Turkey take steps toward becoming a welfare state. Also, the package sets forth some measures to ensure that Turkey’s ‘country that loves and protect its elderly population’ perception does match the reality.
I think I would not be wrong in saying that the government has taken some important steps to ensure that GDP rate this year will not fall below 2.5%.
“Making money is not everything…”
Are those economic packages perfect? They are not. Every economic package has its issues. For instance, government could have restored the advantages of Industrial Organised Sites with regard to energy costs. Not just airline companies or hotel owners, but some selected sectors as well could have been offered VAT and SCT cuts. Government could have reduced VAT and SCT for vital goods and services with sticky prices. These important details are either skipped or ignored.
As I said, government will pursue payments of debts. Everyone; Government, Private Sector and Citizens; must do their part to overcome this difficult period. If we can do that, we can come out to the other side with least harm. But, if the government officials keep insisting that ordinary people and private sector alone must pay the price while government keep spending money unwisely, surely they would lose credibility.
By the way, it’s a shame that TFF hasn’t postponed football matches yet. I regretfully condemn those who consider football players as ‘gladiators’ who serve to entertain people staying at home due to virus outbreak. Also, factories and companies as well haven’t taken the necessary measures yet to rearrange employee seating or to stagger shifts, separate workers. Although money-oriented policies can help you earn money in the short-term, they are doomed to fail in the long term.
