General growth and basic problems of the Turkish economy

Abstract

The past decade has witnessed a significant acceleration in Turkey's rate of economic expansion. During the plan periods (1963-67, 1968-72), the annual average real rate of growth in the GNP has been 6.4%. The decade of 1951-1962 had experienced a real average annual rate of 4%. The annual rate of inflation during the 1950's approached 10% , whilst between 1961 and 1970 it has been 4.4%, a figure comparable to the average for all the O.E.C.D. countries. The long -term target of self-sustained economic growth, i.e., dependent of foreign loans, was a prominent aim of the plans. Despite the evident success of economic planning some basic problems have been a constant source of anxiety to the economic authorities throughout the plan periods: the balance of payments situation, rapid growth of population, the high levels of open and disguised unemployment, insuf- ficiency of domestic savings and financial institutions, excessive dependence of agriculture on weather conditions.