Turkey has historically struggled to attract foreign investors. This paper argues that not only macroeconomic and political stability, but also regional integration explains the upsurge in foreign direct investment observed since 2005.
... See More + The analysis draws from a qualitative framework. It discusses how, contrary to the Customs Union Treaty for industrial products with the European Union, the official start of the European Union's accession to negotiations in 2005 encompassed a wide set of reforms in several chapters directly or indirectly affecting the business climate. The reforms helped to enhance foreign direct investment attraction in Turkey. However, it seems that the global economic slowdown starting in 2009 and increasing Euro-skepticism have already started to erode this effect. Only large foreign investment in the energy sector observed in 2009-13, explained by the energy security strategy of the European Union and the privatization agenda, has prevented the collapse of foreign direct investment inflows to Turkey.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS6970 JUL 01, 2014
Sanchez Martin, Miguel Eduardo; Escribano Frances, Gonzalo; de Arce Borda, Rafael
The objective of the Innovative Access to Finance Project for Turkey is to improve access to longer term Islamic finance and to factoring for small and medium enterprises and export oriented enterprises.
... See More + A single component will provide US$250 million equivalent to be intermediated by TSKB through participation banks and factoring companies targeting Small and Medium Enterprises, or SMEs and Export Oriented Enterprises, or EOEs. Sub-component one will focus on Islamic finance (estimated at US$160 million) and subcomponent two will focus on factoring (estimated at US$90 million). The choice of a single component provides re-allocation flexibility against a limited number of participation banks and increased financial markets uncertainty. The credit line, guaranteed by the Turkish government, will be intermediated by TSKB, which will be the Borrower and implementing agency for this project. TSKB will in turn on-lend and finance Participating Financial Institutions, or PFIs, which can be participation banks and factoring companies. TSKB will select PFIs pursuant to criteria agreed between TSKB and the World Bank, and subject to no objection by the World Bank. The selected PFIs will in turn sub-finance private SMEs and EOEs, the final beneficiaries of the credit line. The PFIs will assume the risk of the sub-beneficiaries who will be selected based on agreed upon selection criteria. TSKB will have exposure only to the selected PFIs and will assume the risk for on-lending and financing PFIs.
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This first loan in a programmatic series of two development policy loans (DPLs) aims to support Turkey's goal of continued socially and environmentally sustainable shared growth.
... See More + At the request of the Turkish authorities, the proposed DPL series supports structural reforms that will facilitate Turkey's transition to high income status over the medium term by building competitiveness and enhancing transparency, creating jobs and sharing the fruits of growth, and ensuring sustainable development. Turkey's economic development over the past decade has resulted in impressive economic and social achievements. After a banking crisis in 2001, the country embarked on a concerted path of structural reform supported by strong fiscal consolidation, strengthened banking supervision, a reform of the social security system, and a shift to a flexible exchange rate regime with an independent central bank responsible for inflation targeting. Against these new challenges, the DPL series supports important measures to enhance the economy's competitiveness over the medium term and sustain the inclusive growth achieved over the past decade. The programmatic DPL is advancing reforms in the following three areas: (i) improving the business climate and enhancing transparency; (ii) boosting labor force participation and widening access to finance; and (iii) deepening Turkey's infrastructure reforms.
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The objective of the Gas Sector Development Project for Turkey is to increase the reliability and stability of gas supply in Turkey by implementing critically needed gas storage and network infrastructure; and support Petroleum Pipeline Corporation of Turkey in strengthening its operations as a financially stable and commercially managed corporation.
... See More + The Project consists of two components: (a) gas storage facility; and (b) network expansion. The proposed additional loan would finance US$400 million of the cost overrun in the Tuz Golu gas storage facility. Expected results have been modified accordingly.
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Turkey has experienced rapid growth and improved social outcomes over the past decade. Per-capita income in United States dollar (USD) terms tripled during the first decade of the 21th century, and Turkey is now the world's 17th largest economy.
... See More + Fiscal policy was an important component of the reform program that delivered these successes. Prudent fiscal policy also provided the fiscal space to soften the blow of the global economic and financial crisis in 2008-2009. This report documents the central role played by fiscal policy over the last decade and presents simulation results from a computable general equilibrium model that will help inform the future direction of fiscal policy to support sustained high growth. The dynamics of fiscal outcomes and private investment and savings raise a series of tradeoffs for policy going forward. The analysis in this report suggests that public investment can crowd-in private investment and promote a more sustainable growth path. Government revenue dynamics present another set of trade-offs. These fiscal trade-offs are likely to be exacerbated as the structural transformation of Turkey's economy slows down. Structural reforms can support the fiscal policy pivot, particularly by strengthening the supply side of the economy, for instance through an increase in female labor force participation.
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The objective of this report is to present a picture of the students in Turkey using data from trends in international mathematics and science study (TIMSS) 2011.
... See More + For comparability reasons the authors did not use data from previous rounds of TIMSS. Thus, the authors are not able to explore whether students in Turkey have improved, or not, their performance over time. Results show that Turkey's student performance on the TIMSS international education assessments is as expected given its level of economic development. Turkish students' results in science are stronger than in math for grade eight, suggesting that students have a better command of the Science than the Math curriculum. There are opportunities to improve the quality of education for all children as inequalities remain across groups in the education system.
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Turkish exporters substantially broadened market reach, exporting to 137 countries at present, up from 90 in 2000. Turkey's global market share rose substantially from 0.55 percent of global imports in 2002 to 0.82 percent in 2012.
... See More + Turkey aims to become one of the ten largest economies in the world by 2023, with per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) rising to United States (U.S.) $25,000 and exports to U.S. 500 billion dollars. This report focuses on Turkey's competitiveness from the supply side, but it is important to note that ensuring a more balanced mix of financing for the required investment through measures to boost domestic savings is equally important if Turkey's progress is to be sustained. Achieving Turkey's export target is possible and it will likely require a larger global market share. The relatively low level of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Turkish manufacturing has been a constraint to export growth and quality improvements. Raising export growth to levels that help meet Turkey's development goals will require a policy agenda that targets sustained further improvements in Turkey's physical, human, and institutional capital. This report prioritizes broader policies that are fundamental for Turkey to export its way out of middle-income. Chief among these are policies that: (i) link the country further with international markets, including by helping bring larger inflows of FDI, particularly into the manufacturing sector; (ii) promote innovation, including by encouraging a large role for private companies in research and development (R and D); (iii) upgrade the skills both of the existing work force and new entrants; and (iv) improve access to finance, particularly long-term, with a view to unlock the potential of the dynamic small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.
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Turkish exporters substantially broadened market reach, exporting to 137 countries at present, up from 90 in 2000. Turkey's global market share rose substantially from 0.55 percent of global imports in 2002 to 0.82 percent in 2012.
... See More + Turkey aims to become one of the ten largest economies in the world by 2023, with per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) rising to United States (U.S.) $25,000 and exports to U.S. 500 billion dollars. This report focuses on Turkey's competitiveness from the supply side, but it is important to note that ensuring a more balanced mix of financing for the required investment through measures to boost domestic savings is equally important if Turkey's progress is to be sustained. Achieving Turkey's export target is possible and it will likely require a larger global market share. The relatively low level of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Turkish manufacturing has been a constraint to export growth and quality improvements. Raising export growth to levels that help meet Turkey's development goals will require a policy agenda that targets sustained further improvements in Turkey's physical, human, and institutional capital. This report prioritizes broader policies that are fundamental for Turkey to export its way out of middle-income. Chief among these are policies that: (i) link the country further with international markets, including by helping bring larger inflows of FDI, particularly into the manufacturing sector; (ii) promote innovation, including by encouraging a large role for private companies in research and development (R and D); (iii) upgrade the skills both of the existing work force and new entrants; and (iv) improve access to finance, particularly long-term, with a view to unlock the potential of the dynamic small and medium enterprise (SME) sector.
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The Cadastre Modernization Project for Turkey will contribute to the achievement of the EU accession process, which requires the upgrading the quality and cost-effectiveness of public services through enhancing and bringing the land registry and cadastre services to European standards.
... See More + Environmental effects of the project, if any, will be minor and of short-impact. The project will include small scale construction works connected to buildings renovation and construction. These plans will be prepared in accordance with World Bank guidelines and the Turkish legal and regulatory framework. It will state the foreseen environmental impacts and provide good operational practice to control emissions (e.g. dust, noise, and exhaust fumes), wastewater discharge and solid waste management on the construction site. It will provide guidance on avoiding the use of hazardous substances, such as toxic paints, solvents or cleaning agents. Moreover, it will include traffic safety in the immediate vicinity of the construction sites, as necessary. It also will address steps to be taken if any cultural heritage elements are encountered during the implementation of civil works. Specific issues that may have negative impacts on the project include: dust, noise and vibration due to the demolition and construction; risk of damage to unknown historical and archaeological sites; dumping of construction wastes and accidental spillage of machine oil, lubricants, etc.; and risk from inadequate handling of waste.
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The Cadastre Modernization Project for Turkey will contribute to the achievement of the EU accession process, which requires the upgrading the quality and cost-effectiveness of public services through enhancing and bringing the land registry and cadastre services to European standards.
... See More + Environmental effects of the project, if any, will be minor and of short-impact. The project will include small scale construction works connected to buildings renovation and construction. These plans will be prepared in accordance with World Bank guidelines and the Turkish legal and regulatory framework. It will state the foreseen environmental impacts and provide good operational practice to control emissions (e.g. dust, noise, and exhaust fumes), wastewater discharge and solid waste management on the construction site. It will provide guidance on avoiding the use of hazardous substances, such as toxic paints, solvents or cleaning agents. Moreover, it will include traffic safety in the immediate vicinity of the construction sites, as necessary. It also will address steps to be taken if any cultural heritage elements are encountered during the implementation of civil works. Specific issues that may have negative impacts on the project include: dust, noise and vibration due to the demolition and construction; risk of damage to unknown historical and archaeological sites; dumping of construction wastes and accidental spillage of machine oil, lubricants, etc.; and risk from inadequate handling of waste.
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The development objective of the Frontier Finance Project for Turkey is to improve access to long term Islamic finance and export factoring for small and medium enterprises and export oriented mid-cap enterprises.
... See More + Some of the negative impacts and mitigation measures include: installation of new buildings and extension of existing buildings are generally treated as no annex projects according to Turkish environmental impact assessment (EIA) system but can be classified as category B by the World Bank (WB). In such cases, no environmental documentation is required under Turkish law but a simple environmental management plan (EMP) must be prepared in order to meet the requirements of operational directive OP 4.01. For the renovation works which include only machinery and equipment replacement works are also treated as no annex under Turkish EIA system and can be treated as category C under WB safeguard policies, if the types of wastes generated, emissions released, wastewater discharged, etc. are not significantly changing as a result of renovation process. It is important to conduct the environmental due-diligence studies of the existing facilities which are applying to participating financial institutions (PFIs). If the type of the industry has air emissions which are falling under regulation on air pollution control sourced from industry, then there should be a valid air emission permit, if the industry is producing any type of wastewater (domestic and or industrial) then they are subjected to water pollution control regulation and there should be a valid discharge permit (or a sewer connection permit), if there's a hazardous waste storage in the industry then relevant permits should be in place regarding waste storage. Sub-projects, which include supply and discharge operations within the following river basins, shall be eligible for finance.
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