The public pays the cost of the crises in Turkey
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Anatolia News Agency
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 05, 2009 00:00
MALATYA - The crises Turkey has endured since 1994 have cost the country $50 billion to $60 billion, said Ahmet Ertürk, president of Turkey's Savings Deposit Insurance Fund, or TMSF.
"Finance is volatile. It is easy to lose money. You can only recover some of that. We have collected $18 billion so far. If the laws were not in place then we would have been able to recover only 20 percent of that amount. The Treasury has erased $65 to 70 billion from our debt. That is an inflated figure because of interest, however, whichever way you look at it, the crises have cost Turkey a total of between $50 to 60 billion."
For many years it seemed as though the Treasury was a creditor and TMSF was a debtor, Ertürk told participants of the "Global Financial Crisis and its Impacts on Turkey" conference held by İnönü University in Malatya on Tuesday.
"Treasury resources worth nearly $27 billion to $28 billion were used. That was the amount we had previously owed the Treasury.
Showing that a public resource was applicable in such a way, is a guile that can be seen only in Turkey," he said. "Governments all around the world incur expenditure to save their banking systems. Just like what happened in the United States and Germany. That is actually considered to be a cost the entire population should shoulder. Whatever you can get back is considered a profit."
"Of course crises will cost the government and the public. In Turkey, that cost has always been defined as TMSF’s debt," said Ertürk. "For many years TMSF was portrayed as a debtor in Treasury statistics. That was a scheme, because it was always impossible to pay back the entire amount borrowed," he said. "If a thief robs your home and police eventually capture him, but the thief has already got rid of the stuff he stole, catching the thief is of no benefit. The situation is similar in the delayed establishment of TMSF. Many years were lost due to that delay."
For many years it seemed as though the Treasury was a creditor and TMSF was a debtor, Ertürk told participants of the "Global Financial Crisis and its Impacts on Turkey" conference held by İnönü University in Malatya on Tuesday.
"Treasury resources worth nearly $27 billion to $28 billion were used. That was the amount we had previously owed the Treasury.
Showing that a public resource was applicable in such a way, is a guile that can be seen only in Turkey," he said. "Governments all around the world incur expenditure to save their banking systems. Just like what happened in the United States and Germany. That is actually considered to be a cost the entire population should shoulder. Whatever you can get back is considered a profit."
"Of course crises will cost the government and the public. In Turkey, that cost has always been defined as TMSF’s debt," said Ertürk. "For many years TMSF was portrayed as a debtor in Treasury statistics. That was a scheme, because it was always impossible to pay back the entire amount borrowed," he said. "If a thief robs your home and police eventually capture him, but the thief has already got rid of the stuff he stole, catching the thief is of no benefit. The situation is similar in the delayed establishment of TMSF. Many years were lost due to that delay."