ANKARA, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Confronted with a slowdown of the economy, Turkey will put a hold on big new investments in order to control spending, a decisive move announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In a speech last Friday in front of representatives of his ruling party, the Turkish leader noted that ministries were reviewing their plans and would not consider making fresh investments in line with a tight fiscal discipline.
"We are not considering any fresh investments right now," he told his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) provincial heads in Ankara. One day earlier, Turkey's Central Bank hiked interest rates by 625 basis points to stem inflation.
Turkish inflation rose to 17.9 percent in July, the highest record in 15 years amid a currency turmoil resulting from domestic vulnerabilities and a diplomatic spat with the United States over the detention of a U.S. clergyman for terror-related charges.
"There could be extraordinary and must-do investments, that's another issue," Erdogan said.
Those of which more than 70 percent were done would be
completed, he added, but "all our ministries will be reviewing
the investment stocks they have and will conduct their work by
prioritising."
Erdogan also underlined the launch of a comprehensive saving movement in public sector.
Mega projects have marked Turkey's last decade, contributing to Erdogan's success in political life.
In June, he has been re-elected with new executive powers and his ambitious projects were a hot topic of his critical election campaign.
Erdogan promised Turks a series of gigantic projects such as the new Istanbul international airport, which is set to open on Oct. 29.
Others are the Eurasia Tunnel, a road tunnel which connects both sides of Istanbul, the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, the third bridge over the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul and the controversial Canal Istanbul project, with an estimated cost of at least 15 billion U.S. dollars.
Erdogan did not say which projects would be delayed or cut.
Regarding Canal Istanbul, Erdogan insists that plans are underway and "abandoning the project is out of the question," but commentators argue that it should be the first to be struck out.
"Experts say, unlike Egypt and Panama, Turkey has a natural seaway which is the Bosphorus. So why spend billions of dollars in such a fantasy," political analyst and journalist Serkan Demirtas told Xinhua.
Turkish Treasury and Finance Ministry is expecting some 6 billion lira (975 million dollars) primary surplus by the end of this year due to some drastic public expenditure cuts, including a gigantic fleet of cars and motor vehicles used in the civil service.
But according to media reports, there is reluctance among some public institutions and ministries to the idea of giving up luxury official cars.
There are more than 110,000 official cars hired or bought by state bodies in Turkey, according to the Birgun daily.
Mehmet Metiner, a former senior AKP lawmaker, admitted the lavish expenditures of parliament members, calling on authorities to "limit drastically official and body guard vehicles".
"We should say 'stop' to this extravagant waste without losing any more time. Otherwise, we will lose the people's confidence," he wrote in the pro-government daily Star, underlining the increasing gas and petrol prices in the country.
