The economic fallout from Turkey’s financial crisis was well evident in February, with the State Institute of Statistics (DIE) reported that the Turkish industrial sector operated at 70.2 percent capacity—3.8 percentage points lower than the figure reported for the same month in 2000.
According to DIE figures, 57.8 percent of the 575 businesses attributed low demand from within Turkey as the main reason for their below-capacity results. Only 11.1 percent of the companies surveyed said low demand from foreign clients was responsible.
Interestingly, only three percent blamed financial shortages for their predicament. 2.6 percent of the businesses cited labor shortages, three percent blamed a lack of locally produced raw materials and 1.2 percent said an unavailability of imported raw materials was responsible.
Some 39.9 percent of the businesses polled expected an increase in their output in March, while 21.8 percent expect a decline. — (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
