Turkey At The Intersection Of Economic And Commercial Interests

Turkey has made in the last 4 decades a remarkable growth in economy. The energy industry is represented mainly by the coal industry (especially lignite and coal), located in northwest Anatolia. The electricity is produced in the hydro and thermal power plants. Turkey has the world's 17th largest nominal GDP, and 15th largest GDP by PPP. The country is a founding member of the OECD (1961) and the G-20 major economies (1999). Since December 31, 1995, Turkey is also a part of the EU Customs Union. While many economies have been unable to recover from the recent global financial recession, the Turkish economy expanded by 9.2% in 2010, and 8.5 percent in 2011, thus standing out as the fastest growing economy in Europe, and one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Hence, Turkey has been meeting the “60 percent EU Maastricht criteria” for public debt stock since 2004. Similarly, from 2002 to 2011, the budget deficit decreased from more than 10 percent to less than 3 percent, which is one of the EU Maastricht criteria for the budget balance. As of 2012, the main trading partners of Turkey are Germany, Russia and Iran. Turkey has taken advantage of a customs union with the European Union, signed in 1995, to increase industrial production for exports, while benefiting from EU – origin foreign investment into the country. Turkey is also a source of foreign direct invest-ment in central and eastern Europe and the CIS, with more than $1.5 billion invested. 32% has been invested in Russia, primarily in the natural resources and construction sector, and 46% in Turkey’s Black Sea neighbours, Bulgaria and Romania. Turkish companies also have sizable FDI stocks in Poland, at about $100 million. The construction and contracting companies have been significant players, such as Enka, Tekfen, Gama, and Üçgen İnşaat, as well as the three industrial groups, Anadolu Efes Group, ŞişeCam Group and Vestel Group. The exports reached $115.3 billion in 2007, but imports rose to $162.1 billion, mostly due to the rising demand for energy resources like natural gas and crude oil. Turkey targets exports of $200 billion in 2013, and a total trade of at least $450 billion. There has been a considerable shift in exports in the last two decades. The share of natural gas decreased from 74% in 1980 to 30% in 1990 and 12% in 2005. The share of mid and high technology products has increased from 5%, in 1980, to 14%, in 1990, and 43%, in 2005.