Roundtable with
Mr. Adnan Bali,
Director and Chief Executive Officer of İşbank
November 25, 2016

On Novermber 25, 2016, Global Relations Forum launched a roundtable series entitled “Roundtable Series with Business Leaders” to enrich GRF’s activities with the practical and topical experiences of business leaders.

The first speaker of the series was Mr Adnan Bali, who is the CEO of İş Bank, GRF’s Corporate Member. Mr. Bali discussed global economic trends which might impact Turkey over the next three years and the precautionary measures that the Turkish policy makers should take.

During his speech, Mr. Bali elaborated on the fault lines of global economy arguing that slowing economic growth, surge in protectionist trade policies and rising income inequality are three leading global trends.

Mr. Bali underlined the low growth figures of developed economies despite their loose monetary policies and echoed warnings from the WTO and the IMF on the global trade slowdown resulting from protectionist policies. Highlighting the importance of “inclusive growth,” Mr. Bali suggested that this concept could emerge as an efficient means to escape the middle income trap.

Regarding precautionary measures Turkish policy makers should take, Mr. Bali encouraged structural reforms to shift to high value-added production processes. He also urged negotiating bilateral Free Trade Agreements to prevent isolation amid the surge of protectionism. Following his remarks, Mr Bali responded to a variety of questions posed by the participants.