Turkey's largely free-market economy is increasingly driven by its industry and service sectors, although its traditional agriculture sector still accounts for about 25% of employment. An aggressive privatization program has reduced state involvement in basic industry, banking, transport, and communication, and an emerging cadre of middle-class entrepreneurs is adding dynamism to the economy and expanding production beyond the traditional textiles and clothing sectors. The automotive, construction, and electronics industries are rising in importance and have surpassed textiles within Turkey's export mix. Oil began to flow through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline in May 2006, marking a major milestone that will bring up to 1 million barrels per day from the Caspian to market. Several gas pipelines projects also are moving forward to help transport Central Asian gas to Europe through Turkey, which over the long term will help address Turkey's dependence on imported oil and gas to meet 97% of its energy needs. After Turkey experienced a severe financial crisis in 2001, Ankara adopted financial and fiscal reforms as part of an IMF program. The reforms strengthened the country's economic fundamentals and ushered in an era of strong growth averaging more than 6% annually until 2008. Global economic conditions and tighter fiscal policy caused GDP to contract in 2009, but Turkey's well-regulated financial markets and banking system helped the country weather the global financial crisis and GDP rebounded strongly to around 9% in 2010-11, as exports returned to normal levels following the recession. Growth dropped to roughly 3-4% in 2012-13. Turkey's public sector debt to GDP ratio has fallen below 40%, and two rating agencies upgraded Turkey's debt to investment grade in 2012 and 2013. Turkey remains dependent on often volatile, short-term investment to finance its large current account deficit. The stock value of FDI reached nearly $195 billion at year-end 2013, reflecting Turkey's robust growth even in the face of economic turmoil in Europe, the source of much of Turkey's FDI. Turkey's relatively high current account deficit, domestic political uncertainty, and turmoil within Turkey's neighborhood leave the economy vulnerable to destabilizing shifts in investor confidence.
$1.167 trillion (2013 est.)
country comparison to the world: 17
$1.124 trillion (2012 est.)
$1.101 trillion (2011 est.)
3.8% (2013 est.)
country comparison to the world: 85
2.2% (2012 est.)
8.8% (2011 est.)
$15,300 (2013 est.)
country comparison to the world: 90
$15,000 (2012 est.)
$14,900 (2011 est.)
agriculture: 8.9%
industry: 27.3%
services: 63.8% (2013 est.)
16.9% (2010)
7.6% (2013 est.)
country comparison to the world: 192
8.9% (2012 est.)
27.91 million
country comparison to the world: 22
note: about 1.2 million Turks work abroad (2013 est.)
agriculture: 25.5%
industry: 26.2%
services: 48.4% (2010)
9.3% (2013 est.)
country comparison to the world: 101 9.2% (2012 est.)
textiles, food processing, automobiles, electronics, mining (coal, chromate, copper, boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper
3.5% (2013 est.)
country comparison to the world: 84
