Analysis: Is Istanbul economically too strong?
By all means, Istanbul is an economically important city. The city’s GDP is higher than that of countries like Greece, Portugal Iraq, and Kuwait. According to 2017 GDP estimates as shown in the below table, almost a third of all Turkish economic activity takes place in this city. It is then followed by Ankara and Izmir whose GDP contributions stand at 9.2% and 6.9%. Moreover, half of Turkey’s tax revenues are collected in Istanbul even though the city’s population corresponds to around one fifth of the total population. If we consider all 81 Turkish provinces the top 10, cities, including Istanbul, produce 65.9% of the GDP. Interestingly, Istanbul has as high an economic importance as the remaining 71 provinces of the country combined. While this is very impressive for any city, it also raises some questions and points towards some economic opportunities.
