At present, Turkey’s national economy and foreign exchange reserves are strengthening on the back of global export income and the tourism industry sector. Especially in the face of the ongoing Ukraine war and global economic crisis in 2022, Turkey achieved huge growth in its tourism industry and export income. At the end of December 2022, Turkey’s foreign exchange reserves reached $121.2 billion (liquid foreign currency of 75.4 billion dollars and gold reserves of 45.8 billion dollars). When the foreign exchange reserve of Turkey was $107 billion on August 31, 2022, and in December 2013, Turkey’s foreign exchange reserves were fixed at $115.14 billion dollars,
Actually, Turkey exported a record amount of $254.2 billion worth of goods to the whole world in 2022. Which was 12.8% more export income in 2021. The country earned $225.3 billion in export income in 2021. Moreover, the country exported goods worth $169.6 billion in 2020 and $180.8 billion in 2019.
However, Turkey’s arms and defense system exports have been growing at an incredible pace in recent times. In the last 12 months of 2022, Turkey set a new record by exporting arms and military equipment worth $4.3 billion. The Erdogan government has set a target of $6 billion in arms exports in 2023. When they also earned $3.2 billion last year and in 2021 by exporting military equipment and systems.
Turkey has developed a strong tourism industry sector, mainly dependent on foreign tourists, over the last 30 years. In 2020, the tourism industry sector of the country faced a major disaster due to the corona epidemic, but in 2022, this sector returned to a positive trend. In 2022, about 4 crore 46 lakh tourists from all over the world came to visit Turkey, and at the same time, the country earned $46.3 billion from this sector. It was 53.4% more than the last 2021 fiscal year. Turkey earned $30.2 billion in 2021, only $14.8 billion in 2020, and $38.4 billion in 2019 from the global tourism sector.
However, due to the adverse effects of the Corona pandemic since 2020 and the war in Ukraine since the beginning of 2022, rampant inflation in Turkey, and the continued depreciation of the Turkish lira against the dollar, As a result, Turkey’s economic capacity has shrunk considerably in 2020–21. At the end of 2022, Turkey’s national economy returned to a state of relief, but the value of the country’s currency, the lira, continued to decline significantly against the dollar. On February 3, 2023, the value of the Turkish lira against the dollar was 18.82 lira. Meanwhile, most countries in the world are continuously increasing the interest rates of their central banks to curb the increase in commodity prices. The Erdoan government started walking in the opposite direction. The Turkish lira fell slightly to 18.09 liras against the dollar after the Central Bank of Turkey cut interest rates from 14% to 13% on August 18.
As of December 17, 2022, one dollar is traded at 18.64 Turkish lira. Moreover, on October 26, 2021, the Turkish lira was traded at 9.61 to the dollar. Whereas just a few days before that, on October 10, 2021, it traded at 8.96 lira against the dollar and at 8.44 lira on August 12 of last year. However, on January 13, 2016, the value of the Turkish currency against the dollar was 0.33 lira, and on January 1, 2015, it was 2.33 lira.
Turkey’s average inflation rate was estimated at 64.27% at the end of December 2022. The Erdoan government expects the inflation rate to reduce to an average of 43.2% in 2023, although the inflation rate was 85.51% last October, 79.6% in July, and 69.97% in April 2022. Which was the highest rate of inflation since 2002. Moreover, this inflation rate was only 61% in March 2022.
According to Wikipedia, in 2023, the nominal GDP of Turkey will be estimated at $942 billion, and per capita income will be fixed at $10,862 dollars. However, the government expects that by the end of 2023, Turkey’s GDP will reach around $2 trillion, making it the world’s 10th largest economy. Moreover, in 2013, the nominal GDP of the country was 957.8 billion dollars. In the current year 2023, the country’s overall unemployment rate may also decrease to about 10%. When the unemployment rate was 10.2% in December 2022 and 11.3% in April 2022.
Turkey’s economy is still facing the biggest challenges from the huge number of foreign refugees and Kurdish issues. Especially as the burden of nearly 4 million Syrians or refugees from other countries who have been staying in the country for a long time It has directly threatened Turkey’s national economy and development. However, Turkey is now strongly negotiating with the Syrian Asad government to maintain peace in the region by excluding war and hostilities. Moreover, they want to gradually send all Syrian refugees to Turkey.
Writer :
Sherazur Rahman,
Assistant Teacher.
