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Turkey Economy 2000 Economy - overview: Turkey has a dynamic economy that is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with traditional village agriculture and crafts. It has a strong and rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major role in basic industry, banking, transport, and communication. Its most important industry - and largest exporter - is textiles and clothing, which is almost entirely in private hands. The economic situation in recent years has been marked by erratic economic growth and serious imbalances. After a sharp drop in 1994, real GNP averaged 6.5% annual growth in 1995-98; it then fell about 5% in 1999 as Turkey was adversely affected by Russia's economic crisis and two major earthquakes. The already-large public sector fiscal deficit widened in 1999 to perhaps 14% of GDP - due in large part to the huge burden of interest payments which accounted for 42% of central grovernment spending. Despite the implementation in January 1996 of a customs union with the EU, foreign direct investment in the country remains low - less than $1 billion annually - perhaps because potential investors are concerned about economic and political stability. Prospects for the future are brighter - including prospects for foreign investment - because the ECEVIT government is implementing a major economic reform program, including a tighter budget, social security reform, banking reorganization, and greatly accelerated privatization. GDP: purchasing power parity - $409.4 billion (1999 est.) GDP - real growth rate: -5% (1999 est.) GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $6,200 (1999 est.) GDP - composition by sector:
Population below poverty line: NA% Household income or consumption by percentage share:
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 65% (1999 est.) Labor force:
23.8 million (April 1999)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 45.8%, services 33.7%, industry 20.5% (April 1999) Unemployment rate: 7.3% plus underemployment of 6.9% (April 1999 est.) Budget:
Industries: textiles, food processing, autos, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper Industrial production growth rate: -5.2% (1999 est.) Electricity - production: 116.5 billion kWh (1999) Electricity - production by source:
Electricity - consumption: 118.5 billion kWh (1999) Electricity - exports: 209 million kWh (1999 est.) Electricity - imports: 2.3 billion kWh (1999 est.) Agriculture - products: tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets, pulse, citrus; livestock Exports: $26 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.) Exports - commodities: apparel 28%, foodstuffs 17%, textiles 12%, metal manufactures 9% (1998) Exports - partners: Germany 21%, US 9%, UK 7%, Italy 6%, France 6% (1999) Imports: $40 billion (c.i.f., 1999 est.) Imports - commodities: machinery 29%, semi-finished goods 16%, chemicals 14%, transport equipment 11%, fuels 8% (1998) Imports - partners: Germany 14%, Italy 8%, US 8%, France 8%, Russia 6%, UK 5% (1999) Debt - external: $104 billion (1999) Economic aid - recipient: ODA, $195 million (1993) Currency: Turkish lira (TL) = 100 kurus (theoretical) Exchange rates: Turkish liras (TL) per US$1 - 545,584 (January 2000), 418,783 (1999), 260,724 (1998), 151,865 (1997), 81,405 (1996), 45,845.1 (1995) Fiscal year: calendar year |