One of the few real IMF success stories, the Turkish economy continues with what Serhan Cevik calls its spectacular normality:
The Turkish economy is now in its fourth year of uninterrupted growth, with an average real GDP growth rate of 7.5% per annum. Indeed, the trend growth rate surged from 3.9% in the 1990s to 5.8% in the post-crisis period and to an impressive 7.8% last year. And we project 7.2% growth for Turkey in 2005 and 6.8% next year, compared with average OECD growth rates of 2.6% and 2.8%, respectively. Obviously, this is an unusual performance for a country that had long failed to keep the economy close to its potential on a sustainable basis. In fact, the growth rate of real per capita GDP decelerated from 2.3% per annum in the 1970s to 1.7% in the 1980s and then to 1.3% in the 1990s leading to the 2001 crisis. However, with prudent fiscal and monetary policies and structural reforms, real per capita income increased by 18.9% on a cumulative basis in the last three years, and should remain on an above-trend growth trajectory in the coming years.
it’s a bit misleading, staying to the facts :
they start from very very low and they have a long long way to go :
GDP per head (US$; purchasing power parity) * Real GDP growth =
Turkey
7,839 * 0.043 = US$337
France
29,609 * 0.021 = US$621
Each year (and i’m very gentle, i used PPP) we are twice more rich !
Yes, obviously like China and India they start from a very low base, and some of the growth is only recovery from a very big crash, but still they are on the ramp, and they are moving relatively quickly.
yes, but to catch up china used to have more than 10% (and sometime much more, and for some analyst much much more 😉 ) of growth, it s not the case in Turkey :
in our case, to catch up they have to earn more than US$621/y ( in PPP, the reallity is worste), it s mean a growth at more than 8 %