•
The economic growth in 2007 was 4.5%
and the cumulative economic growth was realised as
40% in period 2002-2007.
•
Turkey has faced a single digit inflation rate since
2004, and a CPI inflation of 7.7% was attained in
2005 and 9.7% in 2006 and 8.4% in 2007. After a period of three decades
with high (double, even triple digit) inflation rates,
this success was stunning.
•
Public sector’s outstanding debts
were decreased by more than 40 percentage points in
debt-to-GNP ratio terms significantly, and the quality
of the debt stock steadily improved within the last
five years. High public sector primary surplus policy
brought down the colossal public net debt standing
at 91% of GNP in 2001 to 29,18%
of GDP at the end of 2007.
•
Public sector was very keen on fiscal discipline and
realised a primary surplus (IMF definition)
3.5% of GDP in 2007.
•
Annual exports and foreign trade
volume (in goods) hit all-times record of about 21%
of GDP and 55% of GDP, respectively.
Similarly, tourism revenues which
went almost USD 19 billion
and net real estate purchases of nonresidents in Turkey
recorded an inflow of USD 3.0
billion with a 1 per cent rise over 2006.
•
Foreign direct investment in Turkey increased from
USD 10,031 million in 2005 to a record level of USD
20.0 billion in 2006 and USD 22.0 billion in 2007.
•
In 2007, net real estate purchases
of nonresidents in Turkey recorded an inflow of USD
3.0 billion.
•
The current account balance in 2007
which was -5.8% of GDP and that was mainly due to
a fuelled trade balance (in goods) of USD
-46.7 billion.
• Gross fixed investments amounted
to USD 66.9 billion
and hit a record of 17.4% of GDP.
•
As of end-2007, the CBRT’s International
reserves (including gold) reached a substantial
level exceeding USD 76.4 billion,
which is more than 11.6% of GDP.
•
An intense long-term privatisation strategy
was launched and privatisation revenue of USD
8.09 billion and USD 4.2 billion was received in 2006 and 2007 respectively.
•
Financial markets performed well. Having had significantly
increased capital adequacy ratios and profits, the
Banking sector fully recovered itself
after the devastating year-2001-crisis. Mergers and
acquisitions in 2007 suggests that the banking sector
is the most attractive industry for international
investors. The Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB)
became one of best-performing markets among those
of the 25 emerging-market countries.
•
The negative impact of soaring world oil
and commodity prices on Turkish economy,
which is a net importer of oil, gas and some commodities,
was very limited and almost all macro-economic targets
were attained in 2007. Hence Turkey proved once more
that its economy is strong enough against such external
shocks.
•
Turkey started EU membership negotiations
as of October 3, 2005 and screening process in all
35 chapters has been completed succesfully in 2006.
