Turkey Economy
Economy - overviewTurkey's dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with a traditional agriculture sector that in 2001 still accounted for 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 largest industrial sector is textiles and clothing, which accounts for one-third of industrial employment; it faces stiff competition in international markets with the end of the global quota system. However, other sectors, notably the automotive and electonics industries, are rising in importance within Turkey's export mix. In recent years the economic situation has been marked by erratic economic growth and serious imbalances. Real GNP growth has exceeded 6% in many years, but this strong expansion has been interrupted by sharp declines in output in 1994, 1999, and 2001. Meanwhile, the public sector fiscal deficit has regularly exceeded 10% of GDP - due in large part to the huge burden of interest payments, which accounted for more than 40% of central government spending in 2003. Inflation, in recent years in the high double-digit range, fell to 11.3% in 2004. Perhaps because of these problems, foreign direct investment in Turkey remains low - less than $1 billion annually. Results in 2002-04 improved, because of strong financial support from the IMF and tighter fiscal policy. A major political and economic issue over the next decade is whether or not Turkey will become a member of the EU.
GDP
purchasing power parity - $458.2 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate
5.8% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita
purchasing power parity - $6,700 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 11.7%
industry: 29.8%
services: 58.5% (2003 est.)
Investment
15.5% of GDP (2003)
Population below poverty line
18% (2001)
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 2.3%
highest 10%: 32.3% (1994)
Distribution of family income - Gini index
44 (2002)
Inflation rate
25.3% (2003 est.)
Labor force
23.79 million
note: about 1.2 million Turks work abroad (2003)
Labor force - by occupation
agriculture 39.7%, industry 22.4%, services 37.9% (3rd quarter, 2001)
Unemployment rate
10.5% (plus underemployment of 6.1%) (2003 est.)
Budget
revenues: $66.79 billion
expenditures: $93.31 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2003)
Public debt
78.7% of GDP (2003)
Agriculture - products
tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets, pulse, citrus; livestock
Industries
textiles, food processing, autos, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper
Industrial production growth rate
8.5% (2003 est.)
Electricity - production
116.6 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption
112.6 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports
433 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports
4.579 billion kWh (2001)
Oil - production
48,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption
619,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports
46,110 bbl/day (2001)
Oil - imports
616,500 bbl/day (2001)
Oil - proved reserves
288.4 million bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas - production
312 million cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption
15.94 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports
0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports
15.75 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves
8.685 billion cu m (1 January 2002)
Current account balance
$-6.806 billion (2003)
Exports
$49.12 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities
apparel, foodstuffs, textiles, metal manufactures, transport equipment
Exports - partners
Germany 15.8%, US 8%, UK 7.8%, Italy 6.8%, France 6% (2003)
Imports
$62.43 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities
machinery, chemicals, semi-finished goods, fuels, transport equipment
Imports - partners
Germany 13.6%, Italy 7.9%, Russia 7.8%, France 6%, UK 5%, US 5%, Switzerland 4.3% (2003)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold
$35.55 billion (2003)
Debt - external
$147.3 billion (2003)
Currency
Turkish lira (TRL)
Currency code
TRL
Exchange rates
Turkish liras per US dollar - NA (2003), 1,507,230 (2002), 1,225,590 (2001), 625,218 (2000), 418,783 (1999), 151,865 (1997)
