Economy - overview:
Turkey's dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with a traditional agriculture sector that still accounts for more than 35% 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 electronics industries, are rising in importance within Turkey's export mix. 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. The economy is turning around with the implementation of economic reforms, and 2004 GDP growth reached 9%, followed by roughly 5% annual growth in 2005-06. Inflation fell to 7.7% in 2005 - a 30-year low, but climbed back to 9.8% in 2006. Despite the strong economic gains in 2002-06, which were largely due to renewed investor interest in emerging markets, IMF backing, and tighter fiscal policy, the economy is still burdened by a high current account deficit and high debt. The public sector fiscal deficit exceeds 6% of GDP - due in large part to high interest payments, which accounted for about 37% of central government spending in 2004. Prior to 2005, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Turkey averaged less than $1 billion annually, but further economic and judicial reforms and prospective EU membership are expected to boost FDI. Privatization sales are currently approaching $21 billion. Oil began to flow through the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline in May 2006, marking a major milestone that will bring up to 1 billion barrels per day from the Caspian to market.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$627.2 billion (2006 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$358.2 billion (2006 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
5.2% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$8,900 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 11.2%
industry: 29.4%
services: 59.4% (2006 est.)

Labor force:
24.8 million
note: about 1.2 million Turks work abroad (2006 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 35.9%
industry: 22.8%
services: 41.2% (3rd quarter)

Unemployment rate:
10.2% plus underemployment of 4% (2006 est.)

Population below poverty line:
20% (2002)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.3%
highest 10%: 30.7% (2000)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
42 (2003)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
9.8% (2006 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
20.1% of GDP (2006 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $112.3 billion
expenditures: $121.6 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)

Public debt:
64.7% of GDP (2006 est.)

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

Industries:
textiles, food processing, autos, electronics, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper

Industrial production growth rate:
5.5% (2006 est.)

Electricity - production:
143.3 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - consumption:
140.3 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - exports:
1.1 billion kWh (2004)

Electricity - imports:
500 million kWh (2004)

Oil - production:
50,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - consumption:
715,100 bbl/day (2005 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:
688 million cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
22.6 billion cu m (2005 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
0 cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
21.73 billion cu m (2004 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
8.495 billion cu m (1 January 2005 est.)

Current account balance:
$-25.99 billion (2006 est.)

Exports:
$85.21 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Exports - commodities:
apparel, foodstuffs, textiles, metal manufactures, transport equipment

Exports - partners:
Germany 12.9%, UK 8.1%, Italy 7.6%, US 6.7%, France 5.2%, Spain 4.1% (2005)

Imports:
$120.9 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Imports - commodities:
machinery, chemicals, semi-finished goods, fuels, transport equipment

Imports - partners:
Germany 11.7%, Russia 11%, Italy 6.5%, China 5.9%, France 5%, US 4.6%, UK 4% (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$53.42 billion (2006 est.)

Debt - external:
$193.6 billion (30 June 2006 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
ODA, $635.8 million (2002)

Currency (code):
Turkish lira (YTL); old Turkish lira (TRL) before 1 January 2005

Exchange rates:
Turkish liras per US dollar - 1.44514 (2006), 1.3436 (2005), 1.4255 (2004), 1.5009 (2003), 1.5072 (2002), note, on 1 January 2005 the old Turkish Lira (TRL) was converted to new Turkish Lira (YTL) at a rate of 1,000,000 old to 1 new Turkish Lira