All Countries and All Sectors

Accounting for between a quarter and a third of GDP, Turkey’s industrial sector is a global player in areas as diverse as automotive, ready-to-wear, chemicals and retail. A major source of Europe’s industrial imports – as well as a destination for the continent’s exports – Turkey also carried out significant trade in industrial goods with the Middle East, Central Asia and beyond. Despite the...

Now ranked the world’s 17th biggest economy with a GDP of nearly $790bn, Turkey, the prime minister claims, will become the 10th largest in 10 years’ time. To fuel that kind of growth, the country needs energy. Situated between the hydrocarbons-rich Middle East and energy-hungry Europe, but with negligible reserves of its own, Turkey has long been viewed as a transit state. While that...

The Turkish insurance sector is dominated by 25 multinational insurance companies, which held some 52% of the market in 2012. Gross insurance premiums grew 15.5% in nominal lira terms, or 8.8% in real terms, in 2012, and subscriber growth reached 18% that year. Protecting non-vehicular property accounted for 22% of the insurance market in 2012, with the largest segments fire (9%) and earthquake...

Following the 2012 enactment of the new capital markets law, the Istanbul Stock exchange was merged with the Istanbul Gold Exchange and renamed Borsa Istanbul. Following a dismal performance in 2011, equity markets staged a dramatic recovery in 2012, with the dollar-based version of the Borsa Istanbul’s broadest index, the BIST 100, coming within 4% of its record high in January 2013. The...

The Turkish banking sector has suffered from a pattern of booms and lulls in the past, and, as a result, a number of policy reforms have been instituted to improve regulation. The sector looked to be starting a process of maturation in 2013 as it continued to record solid growth without overheating, with lending growing at an annualised rate of 16% in the first two months of 2013. The efforts...

The Turkish government is working to advance a resolution process that could remake domestic politics and enhance its foreign policy clout. A 28-year conflict with the autonomy-seeking Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) has cost over 40,000 lives, has held back economic growth and hampered Turkey’s bid for EU membership. Recent peace talks with the leader of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan, led to a...