Minister Şimşek speaks at Halkbank Producing Women Competition

Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek congratulated the award-winning women in his speech at the award ceremony of the Halkbank Producing Women Competition, which was held for the third time this year in Istanbul. Furthermore, Şimşek stated that if the female labor force participation rate reaches the OECD average of 66 percent, the national income would increase by 20 percent.

"OUR WOMEN MUST BE MUCH MORE ACTIVE"

Pointing to the importance of women's participation in the economy, Şimşek said, "The only way for the Turkish economy to realize its potential depends on our women being much more active, both as entrepreneurs and as employees in business life."

Referring to the increase in women's participation in business life over the last 20 years, which was mentioned in the message sent to the ceremony by AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Şimşek said that the rise of this rate from 20 percent to 36 percent is very valuable and meaningful, but not sufficient.

Noting that the average female labor force participation rate in OECD countries is 66 percent, Şimşek continued his words as follows:

"We looked at a study recently. If the female labor force participation rate in Turkey reaches OECD averages, that is, if it rises to 66 percent, Turkey's national income would be 20 percent higher. Last year, Turkey's national income exceeded 1.1 trillion dollars. Therefore, a 20 percent larger economy means this: It means an additional 210 billion dollars in gross domestic product. Therefore, we support every step that will encourage the participation of women in the labor force and business life. For this reason, I congratulate our Halkbank General Manager (Osman Arslan) and, through him, the entire Halkbank family."

Şimşek stated that the most important and decisive issue here is the level of education, and according to their analysis, the labor force participation rate among women with higher education degrees has risen to 70 percent, surpassing the OECD average of 66 percent.

Şimşek said, "Therefore, access to education and prioritizing it is a subject that our government truly cares about very much. In the coming period, hopefully, Turkey will see the era when the female labor force participation rate reaches 70 percent, and thanks to them, Turkey's economy will be much stronger, much larger, and Turkey will have realized its potential."

Touching upon positive discrimination, Şimşek expressed that it is necessary to some extent and used the following expressions:

"Indeed, many of our institutions such as our public banks, KOSGEB, and TÜBİTAK stand by our women entrepreneurs. KOSGEB offers subsidized loans of 200 thousand liras to new women entrepreneurs and 300 thousand liras to existing women entrepreneurs. Halkbank already mentioned its very comprehensive program just now. I mean, can you imagine? It has provided a loan opportunity of nearly 60 billion liras to 220 thousand of our women entrepreneurs. This is truly very important. Because Halkbank is a pioneer in this regard. Perhaps more needs to be done. As the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, if our bank needs additional support, we would gladly support it."

PREMIUM SUPPORT

Stating that it is necessary to encourage women's participation in the labor force, Şimşek said that they offer SGK (Social Security Institution) premium support to businesses that employ women for a period between 24 and 54 months.

Expressing that nursery and daycare services are very important for women to participate more strongly in business and working life, Şimşek said, "If an employer provides nursery services to their employees, we provide the opportunity to deduct the income obtained from that from taxes. Therefore, we are truly supporting and encouraging our women to be much more strongly present in business and working life with support from the Credit Guarantee Fund and other various incentives."

Noting that women's financial literacy is also very important, Şimşek explained that the Ministry of Family and Social Services and the Capital Markets Board (SPK) have started work to initiate financial literacy training for 800 thousand women, and that he finds this initiative very valuable.

Recalling that he attended the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting held in São Paulo, Brazil last week, Şimşek concluded his words as follows:

"One of the main topics was global inequalities. Unfortunately, in the world we live in, there are serious inequalities both within countries and between countries. Let me give you a figure; the richest 10 percent of the world owns 76 percent of the world's wealth and 52 percent of global income. Let's look at it from another dimension; they are also responsible for 48 percent of global emissions. But the bottom 50 percent, that is, the poorest, own only 2 percent of the world's wealth and only 8 percent of the income. It also corresponds to 12 percent of emissions. Why am I saying this? If women take more roles in business life, they will both contribute to peace and make a huge contribution to the reduction of these inequalities. Therefore, women contributing to our economy much more strongly is very valuable not only for Turkey but actually for a fairer system and peace in the world."

News Source: AA