Economy
Main articles:
Economy of Turkey and
Economic history of Turkey
Levent financial district in
Istanbul
Turkey has the world's
15th largest GDP-PPP[68] and
17th largest Nominal GDP.
[69] The country is a founding member of the
OECD and the
G-20 major economies. During the first six decades of the republic, between 1923 and 1983, Turkey has mostly adhered to a quasi-
statist approach with strict government planning of the budget and government-imposed limitations over private sector participation, foreign trade, flow of foreign currency, and
foreign direct investment. However, starting from 1983, Turkey began a series of reforms that were initiated by Prime Minister
Turgut Özal and designed to shift the economy from a statist, insulated system to a more private-sector,
market-based model.
[27]
The reforms spurred rapid growth, but this growth was punctuated by sharp
recessions and financial crises in 1994, 1999 (following the earthquake of that year),
[70] and 2001,
[71] resulting in an average of 4%
GDP growth per annum between 1981 and 2003.
[72] Lack of additional fiscal reforms, combined with large and growing
public sector deficits and widespread
corruption, resulted in high
inflation, a weak
banking sector and increased
macroeconomic volatility.
[73]
Since the economic crisis of 2001 and the reforms initiated by the finance minister of the time,
Kemal Derviş, inflation has fallen to single-digit numbers, investor confidence and foreign investment have soared, and unemployment has fallen. The
IMF forecasts a 6% inflation rate for Turkey in 2008.
[74] Turkey has gradually opened up its markets through economic reforms by reducing government controls on foreign trade and investment and the
privatisation of publicly owned industries, and the liberalisation of many sectors to private and foreign participation has continued amid political debate.
[75]
TCDD high speed train
The GDP growth rate from 2002 to 2007 averaged 7.4%,
[76] which made Turkey one of the fastest growing economies in the world during that period. However, GDP growth slowed down to 4.5% in 2008,
[77] and in early 2009 the Turkish economy was affected by the
global financial crisis, with the IMF forecasting an overall recession of 5.1% for the year, compared to the Turkish government estimate of 3.6%.
[78]
Turkey's economy is becoming more dependent on industry in major cities, mostly concentrated in the western provinces of the country, and less on agriculture, however traditional agriculture is still a major pillar to the Turkish economy. In 2007, the agricultural sector accounted for 8.9% of the GDP, while the industrial sector accounted for 30.8% and the services sector accounted for 59.3%.
[77] However agriculture still accounted for 27.3% of employment
[79]
According to
Eurostat data, Turkish PPS GDP per capita stood at 45 per cent of the EU average in 2008.
[80]
The tourism sector has experienced rapid growth in the last twenty years, and constitutes an important part of the economy. In 2008, there were 30,929,192
visitors to the country, who contributed $21.9 billion to Turkey's revenues.
[81]
Turkish brands like
BEKO and
Vestel are among the largest producers of consumer electronics and home appliances in
Europe
Other key sectors of the Turkish economy are banking, construction, home appliances, electronics, textiles, oil refining, petrochemical products, food, mining, iron and steel, machine industry and automotive. Turkey has a large and growing
automotive industry, which produced 1,147,110 motor vehicles in 2008, ranking as the 6th largest producer in Europe (behind the United Kingdom and above Italy) and the 15th largest producer in the world.
[82][83] Turkey is also one of the leading
shipbuilding nations; in 2007 the country ranked 4th in the world (behind China, South Korea and Japan) in terms of the number of ordered
ships, and also 4th in the world (behind Italy, USA and Canada) in terms of the number of ordered
mega yachts.
[84]
In recent years, the chronically high inflation has been brought under control and this has led to the launch of a new currency, the
Turkish new lira, on January 1, 2005, to cement the acquisition of the economic reforms and erase the vestiges of an unstable economy.
[85] On January 1, 2009, the New Turkish Lira was renamed once again as the
Turkish Lira, with the introduction of
new banknotes and
coins. As a result of continuing economic reforms, inflation has dropped to 8.2% in 2005, and the unemployment rate to 10.3%.
[86] In 2004, it was estimated that 46.2% of total disposable income was received by the top 20% income earners, while the lowest 20% received 6%.
[87]
Esenboğa International Airport in
Ankara
Turkey has taken advantage of a
customs union with the European Union, signed in 1995, to increase its industrial production destined for exports, while at the same time benefiting from EU-origin foreign investment into the country.
[88] In 2007 the exports reached $115.3 billion
[77] (main export partners: Germany 11.2%, UK 8%, Italy 6.95%, France 5.6%, Spain 4.3%, USA 3.88%; total EU exports 56.5%.) However, larger imports which amounted to $162.1 billion in 2007
[77] threatened the balance of trade (main import partners: Russia 13.8%, Germany 10.3%, China 7.8%, Italy 6%, USA 4.8%, France 4.6%, Iran 3.9%, UK 3.2%; total EU imports 40.4%; total Asia imports 27%).
[89][90] Turkey's exports amounted to $141.8 billion in 2008, while imports amounted to $204.8 billion.
[77]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey#cite_note-90
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