BIS Review 36/2005  13  The implementation of employment-oriented finance models and labor education will contribute to providing a solution to the employment problem by establishing stronger relations between the agriculture sector and the industrial and services sector. Other factors that will help to increase employment include establishing control of the underground economy by lowering employment taxes in the scope of reducing labor costs, sustaining increases in productivity, devising long-term plans compatible with the labor supply aimed at increasing skilled labor and formulating policies consistent with the European Employment Strategy. Now, I would like to touch upon another topic, real interest rates and the problem of public debt. The continuity of structural reforms, a stronger macroeconomic balance and the confidence of economic agents will surely contribute to a further decline in real interest rates in Turkey. Another main indicator of the relation between structural reforms and the level of real interests is the credit levels in the country and the inverse relationship between risk premium and real interest rates. As it is known, the credit rating of a country is assessed according to its economic principles and macroeconomic structure. The analyses indicate that real interest rates display a downward trend in economies with high credit ratings, while they maintain an upward trend in economies with low credit ratings. In other words, real interest rates are low in structurally sound economies, whereas they are high in structurally deficient economies.
Therefore, in order to make sure that central bank independence is understood, internalized and safeguarded by the public, it is necessary for them to fully comprehend the rationale of independence, understand why it is important and become convinced that central bank independence does not imply independence from society. For this reason, I firmly believe that it is vital to talk about independence frequently. 20  BIS Review 36/2005  As I have reiterated before, it is a globally accepted phenomenon that achieving price stability is the prerequisite of establishing a sound market economy and attaining sustainable growth and employment rates in the long run. Another globally accepted phenomenon is that price stability can only be achieved by employing lasting, sound and stable policies. For this reason, the public provides central banks with freedom from political authorities in order to enable them to implement the necessary long-term targets to control inflation and attain price stability, to achieve full employment and to sustain growth. This structure gives central banks the opportunity to reject the implementation of policies that pose risks to attaining price stability and creates an environment in which they can give warnings when required. These are the reasons why central bank independence is essential. Monetary policy implemented by a central bank that is able to effectively exercise its independence, is accepted by all sections of the public and the political authority.