From an economic point of view, for the past 11 years, Turkey has undergone major changes, one of which was the rejection of Ankara from signing a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan stand-by in 2008. Turkey fully repaid its debt to the IMF in May 2013.
The turning point in the Turkish economy became a denomination, and in which course New Turkish Lira was put into circulation and lost the previous 6 zeros. The new currency was put into circulation in 2005.
In the period since 2003, the Turkish economy grew annually at an average of 5%. In 2001, during the crisis, the economy fell by 5.7%, while in 2003 it grew by 5.3%, in 2004 – 9.4%, in 2005 – 8.4%, in 2006 – 6,9% in 2007 – 4.7%.
The global financial and economic crisis in 2008, affected the Turkish economy, it showed only 0.7% growth. In 2009, the economy fell by 4.8%, but then began to grow rapidly, and in 2010 rose by 9.2%. In 2011, when Europe continues to grapple with the crisis, Turkey, with 8.8% growth, ranked second place in the world after China. In 2012, the Turkish economy grew by 2.1% and in 2013 – by 4%.
With regard to level of inflation and unemployment in 2003-2013, the inflation rate, which stood at 18.4% in 2003 decreased to 9.3%. The lowest inflation rate in Turkey was recorded in 2012 – 6.2%. The unemployment rate in last year was 9.7%, while in 2003 the figure was 10.3%.
Turkey’s export in 2003 was 47.3 billion dollars, and for the past 10 years it has grown by 3.2 times, amounting to 152 billion dollars.
In the civil aviation sector average growth was recorded at 16%. In 2002, 1 airline operated flights to 26 cities in the country, and, in 2013, 7 airlines operated flights to 52 cities in the country and 236 cities worldwide. The number of airports in the country has doubled, that is, in 2002 there were 26, and now – 52. This also influenced the growth of passenger traffic. If in 2002 the number of passengers was 36 million people, then, in 2013 – 150 million people.
Over the past 11 years was put into operation underwater tunnel “Marmaray”, linking the eastern and western parts of Istanbul under the Bosphorus, and actually – Europe and Asia. In addition, started a movement of high-speed trains on the route Ankara – Istanbul and Ankara – Izmir. Laid the foundation of a third bridge over the Bosporus and the third airport in Istanbul, which will be the largest in the world. The construction of an underwater road tunnel “Eurasia” is going on.
In recent years, important projects were implemented in the energy sector. The design capacity of power stations in Turkey in 2003 was 1600 MW, in 2013 this figure reached 64000 MW. In 2002, natural gas was supplied only in the 9 provinces of the country, by the end of 2013 – almost all over the country, that is, in 72 provinces, construction of gas distribution networks in another 9 provinces are going on. The volume of investments in oil exploration and production in the reporting period increased from 147 million dollars to 871 million dollars.
Exports of minerals in 2003 was 0.84 billion dollars, in 2013 the figure rose to 5.04 billion dollars.In parallel grew up tourism industry. In 2003, Turkey was visited by 16 million 302 thousand 53 people, in 2013 – 39 million 226 thousand 226 people. Benefits from tourism last year amounted 32.3 billion dollars, while in 2003 it was 13.8 billion dollars.
Exports of defense and aerospace industries in Turkey in 2003 was 331 million dollars, the figure in 2013 rose to 1 billion 394 million dollars.