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Meanwhile, the current chair of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency Milorad Dodik said Erdogan has urged the Bosnian authorities to deliver eight alleged Gulenists to Turkey, but added this is a topic that is yet to be resolved.
Balkan divisions on display at bad-tempered Sarajevo summit. The brawl at Sarajevo airport between Bosnian border guards and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s personal security was the only time things turned physical, but it came on top of a whole series of acrimonious verbal clashes between members of the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) at their latest summit in the Bosnian capital on July 8-9. The SEECP is an ambitious project initiated by Bulgaria back in 1996 with the aim of encouraging cooperation and creating an atmosphere of trust, good neighbourly relations and stability in a divided region. It brings together old adversaries such as Turkey and Greece, and Serbia and Kosovo. But the main glue holding the region together in recent years has been the prospect of integration with the European Union. Some participants are now EU members, while most others have set entry to the bloc as one of their main political goals. However, as enthusiasm for enlargement waned in some West European capitals — and despite efforts by the European Commission to revitalise the process it still seems a remote prospect for states in the region — the impetus for regional cooperation and the resolution of historic differences has waned.
Turkish authorities confiscated around $271mn in fake $100 banknotes in a raid on an Istanbul printing press, Hurriyet reported on July 22. It was said to be Turkey’s biggest counterfeit currency seizure in recent years.
Saudi Arabia was holding more than 80 Turkish trucks at border customs sites on various grounds against a backdrop of escalating tensions between Ankara and Riyadh that has become more visible since the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi kingdom's consulate in Istanbul last October, Turkey’s pro-Erdogan Daily Sabah reported on July 29.
3.0 Macro Economy
Turkey - Main Macro Indicators
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
Q1
Q2
GDP Growth (y/y)
8.49
5.17
6.09
3.18
7.44
2.57
-2.62
GDP (per capita, $)
12,395
12,022
10,915
10,817
10,537
9,346
8,507
8,507
GDP (current prices, TRYbn)
1,810
2,044
2,339
2,609
3,107
3,701
915
-
GDP (current prices, $bn)
950
934
859
863
852
766
-
-
CPI Inflation (%) (as of May)
7.4
8.2
8.8
8.5
11.9
20.3
19.7
18.7
Population (mn)
76.7
77.7
78.7
79.8
80.8
82.0
-
-
Unemployment Rate (%) (April)
9.0
9.9
10.3
10.9
10.9
11.0
14.1
13.0
CA Deficit (USD bn) (Jan-May)
-63.6
-43.6
-32.1
-33.1
-47.3
-27.8
-1.94
-3.14
Budget Deficit (TRYbn) (H1)
-18.5
-22.7
-23.5
-29.9
-47.8
-72.6
-36.2
-78.6
source: imf, tuik, treasury, central bank
20 TURKEY Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com