Turkey Economy 2001

Economy - overview: 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.)

Budget:
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

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.)

Agriculture - products: tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets, pulse, citrus; livestock

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

NOTE: The information regarding Turkey on this page is re-published from the 2001 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Turkey Economy 2001 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Turkey Economy 2001 should be addressed to the CIA.