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According to figures published by Turkish Statistics Institute, Turkstat, the GDP of the country grew by 11% in the first quarter of 2011, as compared to the same period last year. The Turkish economy, after experiencing an increase of 8 .9% in 2010, confirms its positive trend, although some analysts had predicted a slowdown for 2011. Currently, Turkey is the country with the highest growth rate in the world, ahead of Argentina (+9.9%) and China (+9.7%) for Q1 of the current year. In the first five months of 2011, however, the value of Turkish exports stood at around $ US 54.3 billion (an increase of 20.1% over the same period of 2010) while the imports reached $ US 98.2 billion (an increase of 43.8%). Also in this same period, the total foreign direct investment in Turkey amounted to $ US 5.314 billion, or 60% of foreign investments that were registered in 2010. These statistics testify unequivocally to the incredible acceleration of the Turkish economy. The country's growth is driven especially by trade and distribution (+17.2%), construction (+14.2%), and the sectors of energy, electricity, communication and transport. Even the tourism industry presents extremely positive data: according to a study conducted by MasterCard, the number of tourists in Istanbul increased by 20.4% compared to 2010, placing the Turkish metropolis on the seventh place as a tourist destination in the world and twelfth in terms of revenues generated
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