All of these are positive signals showing that the program is slowly starting to yield results and that all parties who were hesitant to trust are now beginning to trust. On the other hand, the per capita income, the average income, is felt differently by all segments, whether it's the industrial sector or the service sector, the defense industry within the industrial sector, the manufacturing industry, the increase in per capita income, the increase in wages, the difference between what is felt in the service sector and the production sector, what is felt in the low-income group and the high-income group, the fact that they are not the same and are diverging, and the fact that the per capita income, which has passed 15,000 dollars and reached the level of 17,000 dollars, has moved away from the median income, the median income is still at the level of 45,000 dollars, and the fact that the gap in this issue is widening also brings other problems and other issues on its own. Therefore, growth is very good. The increase in total income is good. Fighting inflation is good. But while doing this, the other side effects that are developing must definitely be taken into account. Because the tight monetary policy being followed in the recent period is causing the segments, especially those in the middle group, those directly in the middle, to unfortunately either move towards poverty or towards wealth with an increase in welfare level, and the weakening of the middle segment, which is seen as a cushion, is actually causing an increase in income inequality in this regard. We must not overlook this, which is why a landlord-tenant peace cannot be achieved. That's why we are all wondering where the minimum wage increases will end up. The issue of employer unions and worker unions being able to take this responsibility together is becoming more difficult in each passing period. It is becoming difficult to reach a consensus at that table. Therefore, these are as important as our main topic, and I believe we need to take a breather to focus on that as well.
The current conjuncture actually creates two fundamental and very dangerous problems for us and for the financial sector. One of these is the adverse selection problem. The customer you want to lend to does not want to take a loan at those prices. The customer who takes a loan at that price cannot repay the loan. Therefore, the credit growth of the healthy credit you give is becoming more difficult every day. As this tight monetary policy continues, the industrialist, the SME who uses the credit with all good intentions, unfortunately, the profit, the profit margin, the value added they earn when repaying this loan is only enough to cover the financing costs. It is not enough to cover their other needs, so it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to talk about healthy credit growth in these areas. Yes. Is there a systemic problem right now? No. Is our banking sector strong? Strong. Is our real sector, our credit users, still managing to cope with this? They are. Do we have an expectation of relief in the coming period? Yes. But if we ignore the fact that we are going through a difficult period and do not define this picture correctly, we risk making a mistake. The second issue is that alongside the adverse selection problem, it also causes a moral erosion. Because constant debt restructuring, tax restructuring, amnesties. Since it also somehow disrupts people's debt repayment habits, this time, another problem that causes the deterioration of asset quality as much as adverse selection is moral erosion. All of these are unfortunately the side effects that can arise when you prioritize a topic and focus on it, but we must definitely address these side effects before they grow too much. We have the responsibility to transform the current program into a more comprehensive economic program, a development program that will address the transformation in our country. We are here today for this purpose. We are here to talk about how this can be done, not just to analyze the current situation, but to share solution suggestions, to inspire, and to write success stories by drawing strength from success stories in this regard.
If we describe this past period as the winter period, yes, winter may be harsh. The wolf survives the winter, but it does not forget the frost it endured. Therefore, we must not forget how we spent this period. Before this period began, in the period when access to more money was easier, when money was abundant, we must review how we used the credits and for what purpose we used them. And when that break is given and the policy changes and access to finance becomes easy again, we must evaluate very well how to use it. Otherwise, we may fall into the same mistake again. In the first financial expansion, when access to credit became easy, demand was created directly. If we say that the profitability problem is no longer there and turn to capacity increase, and if we use the money to increase capacity, when the second act of this business begins, we risk being left in the middle and experiencing the same difficulty again. Therefore, we should not say that demand has increased, life has returned to normal, and it is in the past. It is beneficial to act by knowing that the relief that will be experienced is just an intermission relief and by using it for the transformation we need. Therefore, I think it is valuable to use investments for transformation, for productivity increase, to allocate finance primarily to this issue, and to use that resource to make a permanent difference in competition, to keep up with the competition.
We need to come together around efficient and value-added production where we can have a say in trade and have the power to set prices. Whatever we do, whatever we produce, it must definitely be either in a value chain, the upper side or the derivative, an area where our business can evolve. But we must not overlook the issue of having a say in trade, having the power to set prices, and production being efficient and value-added. We need to use finance, financial resources for this. Iraq, Syria, Russia, Africa, the Middle East are still virgin markets for us. We have a lot of growth potential here. As long as we can create the necessary value-added in competition. Otherwise, Turkey has left behind the importance of competing with cheap labor. That is, the level Turkey has reached today does not allow competition with cheap labor. In this regard, if we take textiles as an example, we have no chance of competing with Egypt. Egypt's level of development, the life in Egypt, the minimum wage level that people there are currently willing to accept, if we expect to find labor in Turkey, we will wait a long time. Because Turkey has passed those stages. Therefore, our solution is no longer focused on cheap labor. It must definitely be about value-added production, and this time we must definitely and absolutely use the break given for efficient and value-added production. Now.
