Government unveils new development plan

ANKARA

Turkey’s 11th development plan which covers 2019-2023 has been submitted to parliament following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s approval.

All ministries, public institutions and NGOs contributed to the preparations of the five-year plan while public opinion was collected through a survey on the internet with the participation of over 19,000 people.

The plan foresees that the country’s gross domestic product will increase to $1.08 trillion in 2023 while the per capital income target is $12,484.

The government predicts annual real economic growth at 4.3 percent on average between 2019 and 2023.

Turkey’s GDP stood at $784 billion in current prices in 2018, slightly lower than the $851 billion GDP in the previous year.

The Turkish economy grew by 2.6 percent in 2018.

According to the document, the country’s industry sector will play a central role in economic growth. The plan predicts that the industry sector will expand at a rate of 5.7 percent on average and the sector’s share in the country’s GDP will climb to 24.2 percent in five years’ time.

Fixed capital investments are forecast to grow 5.3 percent on average and private sector fixed capital investments’ share in GDP will rise to 26.8 percent.

The plan expects the agriculture sector to grow 3.1 percent on average and its share in GDP to decline to 5.4 percent. Service sector’s share in the national income will be 60.1 percent by end-2023.

According to the five-year plan, annual consumer price inflation will gradually come down to 5 percent until 2023 as the government will continue to pursue price and financial stability policies.

The latest data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed that annual inflation eased from 18.71 percent in May to 15.72 percent in June.

The government also targets to bring down the country’s unemployment rate to 9.9 percent as 4.3 million additional jobs will be created over the target horizon.

Exports are expected to hit $227 billion while imports are forecast to stand at $293.5 billion in 2023.

According to the estimates in the plan, tourism revenues will climb to $65 billion as the country will attract 75 million foreign visitors.

With higher export and tourism revenues, the country’s current account deficit will narrow to 0.9 percent of GDP.

The government also said it will remain committed to fiscal discipline.

The plan foresees that the central government budget deficit will stay at 2 percent of the GDP until 2023.

Public expenditure, which stood at 10.7 percent of GDP in 2018, will gradually treat towards 9.6 percent of the national income at end-2023, according to the development plan.

Turkey’s governments have been preparing five-year development plans since the early 1960s.