Abdurrahman Kaan, Chairman of the Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (MÜSİAD), released a written assessment of the inflation figures announced by TÜİK (Turkish Statistical Institute). Kaan stated the following:

The easing of the loss of momentum in the real sector in the Turkish economy also had a positive impact on consumer prices for August. Indeed, during this period, increases were recorded in the manufacturing industry capacity utilization and real sector confidence indices announced by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, and there were also noticeable improvements in the PMI and MÜSİAD Purchasing Managers' Index released by the ISO. In this context, the annual increase in consumer prices, which slowed to 15.01%, presents a positive outlook for the third quarter of the year.

Increases in production costs due to the speculative foreign exchange attack our country experienced in August of the previous year were the primary determinant of fluctuations in consumer prices. In 2019, the significant stability in the exchange rate, particularly during the months of June, July, and August, is noteworthy. Thus, in the year since the exchange rate fluctuations, the Turkish economy has regained its footing and rapidly entered a rebalancing process.

The 425 basis point interest rate cut taken by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey in July, and its rapid impact on market interest rates, has been a very positive development in terms of its impact on stimulating domestic demand. In this context, we anticipate that headline inflation, which has been reduced to 15.01%, is consistent with the Central Bank's monetary policies. We anticipate that the interest rate cuts will continue in the coming period and will have a positive impact on the real sector, and therefore on both producer and consumer prices.

While we welcome the decline in interest rates, we believe we must carefully address the observed increases in credit risk premiums. Indeed, as MÜSİAD (Municipality of Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association), we frequently advocate for a transition to a "production-focused" economic model and are working diligently to establish a satisfactory balance between production and investment. To achieve this, we must minimize the interest burden on production.