Wealth Distribution and Economy
From International Business Wiki
The last century Turkey has begun to emerge has an independent nation, trying to stand on its own. It wasn’t till the early 1920’s that Turkey began its shift to a modern nation. Mustafa Kemal became the “Father of the Turks” and was given the name Atatürk. This began the turn of the Turkish economy into what it is today. Turkey’s economic power has grew since the 1920’s and the country now sits in the G20 which is a group of 20 nations that have the highest economy.
The main areas that comprise Turkey’s GDP are Agriculture, Industry, and Services. The total GDP of Turkey breaks down in the following: Agriculture is responsible for 9.7%, Industry is responsible for 26.8%, 22.2% of that being manufacturing, and Service is responsible for 63.5%. It is important to note that in the last 20 years Turkey has shifted from Agriculture to Service with Industry having little fluctuation. There has been about 10% shift from Agriculture to Service. [1] Which tells us that the citizens are looking for a change in the major producer of wealth for the economy. This is also important to know that with the shift there will be a time of unsettlement until the shift is completely over.
Other important factors about the economy is that even though the GDP for Turkey puts in the top 20 nations, coming in at 18. The GNP ranks Turkey around 21-22. This means that most of the countries economy is actually owned by the country.
The next important thing to understand about the Economy is to look at Turkey’s natural resources. Currently Turkey is known to contain coal, iron ore, copper, chromium, antimony, mercury, gold, barite, borate, celestite (strontium), emery, feldspar, limestone, magnesite, marble, perlite, pumice, pyrites (sulfur), clay, arable land, hydropower. [2] The most important of these is borate. Along with the United States Turkey is one of the world’s largest producers of boron. [3]
If you’re looking for the trade side of the economy then exporting to Turkey would be the current better way to go. Right now imports exceed exports by about 20%. Meaning that Turkey imports 20% more then it exports. Most of which is not food due to the once Strong Agricultural sector of Turkey. [1]
The future of the economy seems to be growing at a steady Rate. Exports are increasing on a yearly basis with last year seeing an increase of 12.5%. [4] On top of that there has been an increasing portion of tourism beginning to take over the service industry. Turkey also has several plans to build Nuclear power plants, which indicate a growing need for power. Which only comes as a result of an increasing economy and a steadier increase in both technology and population. The Turkish economy is becoming quite modern and it is slowly developing more towards a more powerful nation. That isn’t to say that Turkey doesn’t have its fair share of problems. There are many financial issues with the country as whole. The total debt to GDP ratio has been quoted as high as 43.6% [1]
One of the more prominent factors for those seeking to do business in Turkey is that the income distribution is curved much higher towards the upper class. With annual disposable income of the upper class at 8 times that of the lowest. A majority of the wealth is owned by a smaller portion of society. And much of the debt of the nation is privately owned.
[1] Turkey at a Glance; http://devdata.worldbank.org/AAG/tur_aag.pdf [2] CIA Factbook; https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html [3] Turkish Economy; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_economy#Macro-economic_trends [4] Income Distribution; http://www.die.gov.tr/ENGLISH/SONIST/GELIR/k_270206.xls
