Cagri Sarikaya

Chapter 8 Sources of Growth and the Output Gap for the Turkish Economy

Abstract In this study, we analyze the growth dynamics of the Turkish economy. After investigating the sources of growth and comparing both the output and the inflation performance with the other MENA countries, we find that the Turkish economy has not achieved a sustainable growth path and has a much worse inflation performance. Then, we take a closer look at the volatile output performance and discuss the role of the wrong macroeconomic policies on the unsustainable output performance. Utilizing an output gap measure, we find that the short-term capital flows seem to be the main driving force in generating excessive fluctuations in the output. Based on these findings, we can say that the high economic growth rates, which the Turkish economy has achieved in the recent years owe much to massive short-term capital inflows. At this stage, it is too early to evaluate the effects of the recent structural reforms on the long-term output dynamics.