Turkey's economic growth to continue: OECD Report

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published its latest report, “Perspectives on Global Development 2017 – International Migration in a Shifting World," on Dec, 2016, which presents an overview of the shifting of economic activity to developing countries and examines whether this shift has led to an increase in international migration towards developing countries.

The report envisages that 8 developing countries, including Turkey, will be classified as high income countries in 2030.

Those possible-high-income countries in OECD's global scenario for 2030 are China, Colombia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey.

In another “OECD Economic Outlook Turkey Report," published on Dec, 21, the Turkish economy will maintain its upward trend in its economic performance indicators till 2018. Stating the political crisis and geopolitical quakes are accompanied by economic fluctuations, the OECD concluded that the gross domestic product, which is below 3 percent now, will recover gradually around 3 percent.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, while giving a speech in the opening ceremony of the Ilgaz July 15 Martyrs Tunnel via video conference, “I'd like to tell you good news. OECD stated in its report that 8 countries, including Turkey, have moved up from medium income countries to the high income class."

Pointing out the Operation Euphrates Shield, which started on August 24, the report stated that monetary policies for public finance and strong fiscal balance are supportive to the Turkish economy against high uncertainties and a visible rise has been observed in household consumption as of late 2016.

Turkey's medium term economic program, announced in October, which projects infrastructure investments and plans to be carried out through public-private partnership and implementation of cost-decreasing and transparent policies, has been found to have taken quite positive steps. Also, growth-enhancing government expenditures like education show Turkey's economic performance's sustainability.

The report also emphasized that the cautious implementation of the medium term economic program, which encompasses a-two-year period, will underpin the economy in terms of compromising national and international standards, improving transparency and conducting the structural reforms. Those steps will likely increase internal and external confidence in the Turkish market and decrease foreign finance risks.

Turkey's diplomatic rapprochement with neighboring countries also supports trade, tourism and service sectors, while the country seeks different markets following Russia's boycott on Turkish goods and products in 2016.

The Turkish Statistical Institute, a state-run institution which creates official statistical data for Turkey's economic indicators, calculates Turkey's Gross Domestic Products as 29,885 Turkish Liras or $11,014 according to European System of Accounts (ESA-2010).

After the revision, President Erdoğan said that Turkey's much better economic performance has been revealed in a wide range of areas, particularly national income, after starting to use the ESA-2010 in calculations.