Turkish businesses on alert over global crisis

The United States credit crisis, which is having an increasing impact upon the global financial community with each day, has recently become a top priority on the Turkish business world's agenda.

Businessmen are closely monitoring the crisis, which has become even more rigorous with the collapse of 158-year-old Lehman Brothers, one of the oldest investment banks in the world, and the Bank of America's purchase of Merrill Lynch for $50 billion, Turkish Daily News (TDN) reported.

As the U.S.-born crisis spreads through Europe, officials are also keeping a close eye on the Istanbul Stock Exchange, which has lost approximately 15 percent of its value in the last five days.

"Turkey has a very strong banking system, however, it should not be overcome by sluggishness," Ahmet Nazif Zorlu, chairman of Zorlu Holding, told TDN adding that he does not expect a setback as strong as the one felt in the 2001 economic crisis.

"Our companies should orient toward savings, and try to increase productivity. We may experience problems in external borrowing, in the medium term."

"The financial world is undergoing the most severe crisis of the last 50 years," Tuncay Özilhan, chairman of Anadolu Holding, who expects a difficult year ahead, also said. "It is a misfortune that local elections overlap with the global crisis. We will have to abstain from political fluctuations during the process," he added.

"The rise of inflation is likely to continue, just like the rest of the world… However, it will be an advantage for us that raw material prices will decline. It is crucial to take measures that increase productivity and reduce circulating capital demands in the upcoming period."