Naci Ağbal

A law on the Istanbul Finance Center (IFC) will soon be issued, Finance Minister Naci Ağbal has said, adding that the center will offer many opportunities to attract investors. 

Tax breaks for regular contributors will be introduced in Turkey next year, Finance Minister Naci Ağbal confirmed on Oct. 20.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, Ağbal said there would be discounts on income-tax returns or corporate income tax for those who routinely paid their dues.

Istanbul will be hosting two events on design.

One of the events is Design Week Turkey, which will take place for the first time between Oct. 19 and Oct. 23 under the direction of the Economy Ministry and Turkish Exporters' Assembly. 

Ankara expects a rapid recovery in the tourism sector and exports from next year, Finance Minister Naci Ağbal has said, noting that the recently revised growth forecast for 2016 is a "cautious" estimative. 

Turkey will draw lessons from its credit downgrade to "junk" by Moody's but is already tackling some of the challenges highlighted by the agency, including structural reform and improving the quality of its institutions, Finance Minister Naci Ağbal told Reuters. 

The plan to not reduce the minimum wage due to the rise in income taxes will cost the state budget 1 billion Turkish Liras ($336 million), said a top official in a televised interview on Sept. 21. 

Turkey's government ran a budget surplus of 3.6 billion Turkish Liras ($1.2 billion) in August and 4.9 billion liras ($1.64 billion) in January-August, said Finance Minister Naci Ağbal on Sept. 19.

"Public finance is the main anchor that the foundation of the solid Turkish economy rests on," he said in a statement.

Turkish gross domestic product grew by 3.1 percent in the second quarter of 2016, lower than forecasts of around 3.4 percent, amid a decline in industrial investments and foreign demand, data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed on Sept. 9. 

Turkey's GDP growth was 3.9 percent in the first half of the year. 

Turkey will launch a number of key tax incentives as soon as parliament reopens, Finance Minister Naci Ağbal has said, adding that the government is working on a plan to increase the share of investments and exports in Turkey's GDP growth, which is mainly based on consumption.