The Turkish economy has maintained robust economic performance and continued to grow for 13 consecutive quarters, a senior official said Saturday, emphasizing positive figures recorded in 2023, particularly in the automotive sector.
"In the last 13 quarters, the Turkish economy has continued to grow. It is gratifying that, in a scenario where Germany contracted by 0.6% and the eurozone grew by around 0.5%, Türkiye achieved a growth rate of 4.7%," Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said.
Speaking at the 5th Commercial Diplomacy Awards Ceremony organized by the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) in Istanbul, Bolat stated that global geopolitical tensions and the resulting heavy inflation wave and the contraction in global trade, along with stagnation in the global economy, especially financial compression measures in the fight against inflation, have indeed caused an adverse effect in the world economy.
"We feel these effects intensely in foreign markets. The more than 5% contraction in global trade here leads to a decline in the global economic growth rate to 3% and below," he explained.
"Moreover, the negative impacts on employment were significant as we left behind the year 2023," noted the minister.
"DEIK, in this regard, has always successfully fulfilled its duty with remarkable communication capacities, establishing business council platforms with counterpart organizations in almost every country in the world," he added.
Bolat also pointed out the two organizations they have worked with most since assuming the office: DEIK and the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM).
"These two esteemed institutions have been our wings as we tirelessly worked to contribute more to Türkiye's foreign trade and foreign service revenues in the countries we visited together," he said, aiming for the momentum to persist.
Referring to World Trade Organization (WTO) data, Bolat mentioned a 5.6% decline in global trade in January-September 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
"Global merchandise imports also declined by 6.2%. As a data point, in 2022, global merchandise exports were approximately $25 trillion, and global services exports were $7.5 trillion, totaling $32.5 trillion. In 2023, it is estimated that this figure will decrease by 4.5%, with a decline of $1.5 trillion, reaching $31 trillion," he said.
Regarding the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Global Growth Rate, he stated that the average for 2022 was 3.3%, with the EU and the U.S. below these figures.
It is predicted for this figure to be 2.9% in 2023, with early estimates for 2024 slightly above 2.5%, he added. However, despite a somewhat gloomy outlook, Bolat expressed hope for a livelier economic situation and global trade in the middle of 2024 and the second half.
Continuing his speech, he highlighted the achievements of Türkiye in various sectors under the 'Century of Türkiye' vision, emphasizing positive figures in economic indicators for 2023.
He noted that Türkiye's exports increased by 5.9% in the third quarter of 2023, while the average growth over the past 13 quarters stood at 4.7%.
He also mentioned that Türkiye maintained the second position among G-20 countries, with a gross national income that "exceeded $1.075 trillion by the end of nine months."
"Hopefully, when the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announces the growth figures on March 1, we hope to see that we have exceeded the $1.1 trillion mark," he said.
In addition to economic achievements, Bolat shared statistics on various sectors, such as tourism, automotive, logistics, gaming industry, ceramics, construction, agriculture and machinery exports.
"Our automotive sector broke the highest production, domestic market sales and export sales figures in the republic's history. It broke the records with the production of 1.5 million vehicles, exports of $35 billion and domestic market sales of 1.25 million commercial vehicles," he noted.
Similarly, the minister pointed out that Türkiye boasts a formidable logistics market with a total market size of $100 billion. The sector holds the fifth position in Europe and ranks 11th globally, he said.
Along with this, Bolat highlighted significant foreign direct investment (FDI) in the gaming industry. He said this sector obtained foreign investment amounting to $362 million in 2023, being the fourth country in the world that receives the most investment in this regard.
"In 2002, Türkiye had a 0.55% share of global trade, and by the end of 2022, it increased to 1.02%. By the completion of September 2023, we reached 1.06%. Our goal is to reach 1.30% by 2028," the minister said.
He also provided historical context, highlighting the growth of Türkiye's exports from $50 million in 1923 to $2.9 billion in 1980, $1 billion monthly in 1987, and reaching nearly $256 billion in 2023.
Highlighting that the medium-term program (MTP) target of $255 billion was surpassed last year, Bolat passed on the aim of reaching $267 billion in goods exports this year. He expressed hope in exceeding this target with a 4.5-5% increase in exports, aiming to pick up to $287 billion in 2025 and $302 billion in 2026.
