Türkiye İMSAD Assesses the Global Economy

Turkey İMSAD Reviews Global Economy Turkey İMSAD (Building Materials Manufacturers Association of Turkey) held its first "Sectoral Economy Agenda" meeting online on 4 May 2023 Thursday with contributions from Demirdöküm and GF Hakan Plastik. The meeting, opened by Turkey İMSAD Board Chairman Tayfun Küçükoğlu, was followed with interest by building materials manufacturers, business leaders and sector professionals. At the event shedding light on the past and future of the building materials sector, Turkey İMSAD Economic Advisor Dr. Can Fuat Gürlesel shared detailed analyses on strengthening trends in the global economy and scenarios that may emerge in the building materials sector following the elections. Highlighting the strategic importance of the building materials industry for our country due to its total production and employment share, Tayfun Küçükoğlu stated: "Our sector represents the industrial side of the construction industry and distinguishes itself from the contracting, architecture, real estate and technical consulting sectors through its contribution to our country's foreign trade, employment and growth. In this context, looking at the export figures that reached USD 33.74 billion in 2022, we see that we broke the all-time export record. Particularly, recession concerns experienced in the second half of the year and market slowdowns prevented annual exports from exceeding USD 35 billion. However, when looking at the full 12 months, an export record was broken for our sector since August 2013 when the Turkey İMSAD Foreign Trade Index began to be measured. Turkish building materials industry has the capacity and innovative approach to meet high demand both domestically and internationally. For this reason, I would like to especially emphasize that our sector will reach much better positions in the coming period" he said.

"Construction sector contraction expected in USA and Europe"

Turkey İMSAD Economic Advisor Dr. Can Fuat Gürlesel, sharing his outlook for the global economy at the meeting, stated: "As we entered 2023, the global economy faced challenges such as high inflation, tight monetary policies, high cost of living and financial instability. In this context, by the end of the first 5 months of the year, we saw that tight monetary policies applied globally were producing results, the energy crisis was being resolved and inflation was on a downward trend. However, despite these positive developments, below-average economic growth is expected globally throughout 2023. Particularly in the USA and Europe, construction sector contraction is expected. In the occurrence of this situation, we see the effects of increases in housing credit interest rates and the decrease in the number of building permits. The contraction expected in these regions, which comprise a large portion of Turkey's building materials exports, creates a negative situation for our sector's exports'' he said.