Turkish Economy Set Records In 2003

As the war started in March, this impact intensified. Turkey revised expectations regarding the number of incoming tourists and tourism revenue. The propensity to consume declined. The permit crisis with U.S. was another blow. However, in the second half of the year, many problems were solved by themselves. Losses started to be compensated in tourism, interest rates fell, and consumers gained confidence. This made the data pertaining to the third quarter of 2003 seem bright.

However, Turkey was shaken by bombs, which blasted in Istanbul. Nevertheless, these blasts could not prevent positive developments in economy because attacks drew Turkey closer to U.S. and EU. Therefore, the numbers of the last quarter of 2003 can be better than those of the third quarter.

In 2003,
• The number of automobiles sold increased by 138% in the first 11 months.
• The number of incoming tourists rose by 4.92% in spite of the war and terrorist attacks.
• Revenue over import taxes increased by 22.6% in the first 9 months.
• Gross National Product and Gross Domestic Product rose by 5.32% and 5.4% respectively in the first nine months.
• Industrial production increased by 8.4% in the first nine months.
• As of December 23, exports exceeded 46 billion 150 million dollars.