Yeni Şafak raises its hand in criticism of Mehmet Şimşek

Published: October 22, 2025, 07:20 Updated: October 22, 2025, 07:30

Yeni Şafak Newspaper continues to publish articles criticizing Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek and the Central Bank.

The newspaper's headline today, " We're running out of stamina: The business world wants interest rate cuts and access to credit, " raised eyebrows in criticism of interest rates. Yeni Şafak, for the first time, brought together representatives from the business world and featured them in its headline today.

Yeni Şafak, noting that the business world has no "endurance" left ahead of tomorrow's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, called for interest rate cuts and access to credit.

The criticisms in the news were listed as follows:

Business representatives agreed that a balanced but decisive reduction process in interest rate policy should be maintained. MÜSİAD, ASKON, TİM, ATO, İTO, ASRİAD, and TÜMSİAD stated that high interest rates slow down production and investment and negatively affect employment and exports, emphasizing the need for concrete steps to improve the investment environment and preserve macroeconomic balances.

The business world, stating that current levels are delaying investment decisions and weakening economic growth potential, has a common expectation for a data-based, measured, yet supportive easing of monetary policy.

Business representatives who spoke to Yeni Şafak said the following:

TİM Chairman Mustafa Gültepe: " Companies have been borrowing at interest rates in the 45-50% range for nearly two years. Many businesses have lost their staying power. The delay in discounting is severely hampering our companies' efforts to stay afloat. The Central Bank is now expected to be much more bold in its interest rate cuts."

TÜMSİAD President Yaşar Doğan said: "High interest rates are having a negative impact on the real sector. The current situation is increasing our companies' financing costs and causing investment decisions to be postponed."

Istanbul Chamber of Commerce President Şekib Avdagiç: "At this stage, we see it as imperative to limit increases in financing costs, especially for SMEs. We expect the interest rate reduction cycle to continue at the Central Bank's remaining two meetings this year. We also want to emphasize that these interest rate reductions must be quickly and effectively reflected in commercial loan rates."

ASKON President Orhan Aydın: High credit costs reduce investment and consumption, slow economic growth, increase public borrowing costs, and increase the burden on the budget. Interest rates erode real incomes and increase economic uncertainty. We expect a reduction of at least 200 basis points from the Central Bank. This can support industrial and infrastructure investments and increase competitiveness.

ATO President Gürsel Baran: " Our business community's primary expectation is to reduce financing costs and facilitate access to credit for the sustainability of production, investment, and trade. For SMEs in particular, lowering interest rates to reasonable levels and strengthening access to financing have become prerequisites for survival and growth."

ASRİAD President Cemil Yıldız: No real economic activity in the market can generate as much return as high interest rates. Therefore, interest rates must be reduced as quickly as possible, and a balance must be established between exchange rates and inflation. The real sector and exports are negatively affected by this imbalance. The investment environment must improve, the situation of fixed-wage workers must improve, and exports must become profitable.