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Economy
Turkey's dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce
along with traditional agriculture that still accounts for nearly 40% of employment.
It has a strong and rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays
a major role in basic industry, banking, transport, and communication.The
most important industry - and largest exporter - is textiles and clothing,
which is almost entirely in private hands. In recent years the economic situation
has been marked by erratic economic growth and serious imbalances.
Real GNP
growth has exceeded 6% in most years, but this strong expansion was interrupted
by sharp declines in output in 1994 and 1999. Meanwhile the public sector
fiscal deficit has regularly exceeded 10% of GDP - due in large part to the
huge burden of interest payments, which now account for more than 40% of central
government spending - while inflation has remained in the high double digit
range. Perhaps because of these problems, foreign direct investment in Turkey
remains low - less than $1 billion annually.
Prospects for the future are
improving, however, because the ECEVIT government since June 1999 has been
implementing an IMF-backed reform program, including a tighter budget, social
security reform, banking reorganization, and accelerated privatization. As
a result, the fiscal situation is greatly improved and inflation has dropped
below 40% - the lowest rate since 1987. The country experienced a financial
crisis in late 2000, including sharp drops in the stock market and foreign
exchange reserves, but is recovering rapidly, thanks to additional IMF support
and the government's commitment to a specific timetable of economic reforms.
GDP - purchasing power parity - $444 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 6% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $6,800 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
-agriculture: 15%
-industry: 29%
-services: 56% (1999)
Population below poverty line: NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.3%
highest 10%: 32.3% (1994)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 39% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 23 million (2000 est.)
-note: about 1.2 million Turks work abroad (1999)
-Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 38%, services 38%, industry 24%
(2000)
-Unemployment rate: 5.6% (plus underemployment of 5.6%) (2000 est.)
revenues: $54.5 billion
expenditures: $75.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $3.3 billion
(2000)
Industries: textiles, food processing, autos, mining (coal, chromite, copper,
boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper
Agriculture - products: tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets, pulse,
citrus; livestock
Industrial production growth rate: 6.2% (2000 est.)
Electricity - production: 125.3 billion kWh (2000 est.)
Electricity - production by source:
-fossil fuel: 71%
-hydro: 29%
-nuclear: 0%
-other: 0% (2000 est.)
Electricity - consumption: 119.5 billion kWh (2000 est.)
Electricity - exports: 350 million kWh (2000 est.)
Electricity - imports: 3.35 billion kWh (2000 est.)
Exports: $26.9 billion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Exports - commodities: apparel 25.6%, foodstuffs 15.4%, textiles 12.3%, metal
manufactures 8.6%, transport equipment 8.1% (1998)
Exports - partners: Germany 18.7%, US 11.4%, UK 7.4%, Italy 6.3%, France 6.0%
(2000 est.)
Imports: $55.7 billion (c.i.f., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery 28.3%, chemicals 15.2%, semi-finished goods
14.5%, fuels 11%, transport equipment 9.5% (1999)
Imports - partners: Germany 13.1%, Italy 7.9%, US 7.2%, Russia 7.0%, France
6.6%, UK 5.0% (2000 est.)
Debt - external: $109 billion (2000 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: ODA, $195 million (1993)
Currency: Turkish lira (TRL)
Currency code: TRL
Exchange rates: Turkish liras per US dollar - 677,621 (December 2000), 625,219
(2000), 418,783 (1999), 260,724 (1998), 151,865 (1997), 81,405 (1996)
Fiscal year: calendar year
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