In such an environment, productivity increases become the main factor in competition. Sectors with the highest productivity increases became the sectors, which grew most rapidly and increased their exports the most. Studies to increase productivity and specialization in technology and capital-intensive sectors that create high value added are more critical for the sustainability of increases in exports in the long term, than the advantage of exchange rate movements. In order to be able to persevere in such a strong competitive environment, medium and long-term strategies – rather than short-term perspectives – are needed. To this end, public and private sectors should act in cooperation and harmony. In this framework, the public sector should try to create an environment for the private sector, in which it can compete with competitors in international markets under market conditions. In the meantime, the public sector should continue to take measures in order to increase its productivity, build robust and transparent balance sheets, turn towards capital markets, attend to risk management principles and try to allocate resources for research and development activities. When we look at the course of growth in 2006, we see that indicators of consumption and investment expenditures provide signals for a rapid course of growth in the second quarter of the year. Meanwhile, it is anticipated that the environment of uncertainty created by the fluctuations in financial markets in the second quarter will affect domestic demand in a slightly unfavorable manner and hinder the rapid growth process, starting from the third quarter of the year onwards.
The declines in the Central Bank Business Tendency Survey indicators and domestic sales of automobiles as well as the fall in the Consumer Confidence Index also support this anticipation. Thus, it seems likely that the rate of growth will decelerate to a certain extent in the second half of 2006 and the first half of 2007. At this stage, I would like to draw your attention to the following point: What Turkey needs is to sustain growth at levels close to its potential. The uninterrupted course of growth in recent years is just the beginning. This process is a dynamic one. Structural reforms are extremely important and should be reinforced with micro measures, and a strategic vision should be adopted in line with changing needs and new structures. The Ninth Development Plan provides significant ground in this regard and should be put into implementation immediately. I would also like to say a few words about employment, which is another important issue on the agenda of Turkey. The number of people employed is gradually increasing in line with the high growth performance in our country. In the last one-year period, nine hundred seventeen thousand (917,000) new employment opportunities were created in sectors excluding agriculture. Moreover, in accordance with the structural transformation process in the economy, the sectoral distribution of employment is changing and a rapid shift is observed from the agricultural sector to other sectors.