"Next Generation" Turkish Economic Reforms

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001512 SIPDIS TREASURY FOR INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - JROSE USDOC FOR ITA/CRUSNAK SENSITIVE SIPDIS REF: ANKARA 1015 E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EFIN TU SUBJECT: "Next Generation" Turkish Economic Reforms ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Turkey is enjoying strong economic performance, with real GDP growth averaging over 7% per year for the past five years, government debt down, and inflation nearing single digits. Medium-sized "Anatolian Tigers" are thriving alongside traditional business conglomerates and Istanbul-based industries. Jobs are being created and income disparities are slowly getting smaller. Yet Turkey remains poor and underdeveloped. Prime Minister Erdogan has set a target of doubling per capita GDP from the current $5000 over the next five years. This laudable goal would allow Turkey to approach average EU income levels, but would require sustained high real GDP growth rates at or above recent levels. ¶2. (SBU) There is a consensus among local economists and international institutions (i.e. World Bank, OECD, IMF) that if Turkey is to sustain its economic boom at the same time as the population and workforce continue to expand, Turkey's next government will have to move to a "next generation" of economic reforms. In contrast to the macro reforms that have so far driven growth -- budget reform and independent monetary policy -- the next set of reforms is needed at the micro, grassroots level. To keep investment and growth going and accommodate an economic transformation from an economy based on agriculture, basic industry, and government spending to one based on high-tech, innovation, and services, a new government will have to remove impediments in the labor market, the educational system, and the judicial system that now suppress potential growth. The next government will also need to move forward with the stalled social security reform. Implementing these reforms touches on some of the "sacred cows" of the Turkish system and will be difficult for any government, and even more so for one that does not enjoy broad-based support. End Summary. -------------- Labor market -------------- ¶3. (SBU) The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is working on a package of labor market reforms that it intends to introduce if it returns to power. Despite job creation, Turkey's recent growth has failed to have a significant positive impact on the unemployment rate because of the flood of new entrants to the labor market, the low rate of labor force participation, and declining employment in stagnant niches (i.e. traditional farming and corner grocery stores). Female employment in the 25-54 age group is far below the EU average, 27 percent versus 70 percent. ¶4. (SBU) To stimulate further job creation and to shift employment from the informal sector (which makes up roughly half of total employment) to the formal sector, the World Bank and other observers have identified a package of reforms that would ease restrictions on Turkey's labor market: -- a decrease in payroll and other employment taxes so as to reduce the tax wedge (the difference between employees' net wages and employers' total payments) and the cost of labor to employers, -- a decrease in severance pay for workers - Turkey is tied with Portugal for the highest in the OECD at one month's pay for each year worked, -- and a reduction in constraints on part time and temporary hires to boost employment among women and youth. -------------- Education -------------- ¶5. (SBU) According to World Bank and OECD reports, Turkey will need to improve its rigid, antiquated education system to provide workers with skill sets that companies need to compete in a global market. Turkey will also need to converge toward EU standards on education if its integration into the EU is not to be an avenue for a mass emigration of low-skilled workers. Turkey has achieved near universal enrollment in primary education, modernized its curriculum, and nurtured top students that perform at the highest international standards. (SBU) However, reforms to the Turkish education system are needed to: -- make secondary education compulsory and improve student/teacher ratios to raise secondary school enrollment capacity, -- provide incentives for girls and the poor to stay in school, ANKARA 00001512 002 OF 003 -- restructure university entrance exams to reflect competencies acquired in school rather than test taking skills, -- align teacher training with the new curriculum, -- and establish standards to assess student learning and address deficiencies. -------------- Judicial reform -------------- ¶6. (SBU) An entrenched judiciary has been a key institutional opponent of the AKP Government, striking down privatizations and social security reform and interpreting the constitution to require a super-majority quorum to elect a president. Until the judiciary is modernized and better-trained on commercial and economic issues, it will continue to hold back economic reform, render politicized judgments that are biased against privatization and foreign investment and slow Turkey's transformation to a modern, well-regulated, market economy. Judicial inefficiency and the lack of assurance of judicial impartiality in the case of dispute also undermines the investment climate. ¶7. (SBU) Judicial reforms for Turkey that the EU has recommended include: -- more training for the judiciary, especially on issues relevant to the convergence of Turkish law with EU standards, -- and increased interaction among structures in place to combat corruption. -------------- Social Security Reform -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Social security reform was supposed to be the centerpiece structural reform under the AKP's program with the IMF, but President Sezer and the Constitutional Court derailed it as "unconstitutional," leaving it to the next government to tackle. The longer Turkey waits the harder it will be to staunch the red ink (a deficit of 4.8% of GDP in 2006, expected to rise to 10% by 2050) of the social security system. The share of the elderly in the Turkish population is expected to rise from 5.7 percent today to 14 percent by 2035. This significant portion of the electorate will likely resist change to the benefits it receives from generous pensions. ¶9. (SBU) The AKP's 2006 reforms sought to address the social security deficit by requiring: -- a longer period of work to receive full benefits, -- phasing-in a retirement age of 65 years, -- valuing past wages on an equal weighting of wage growth and inflation, -- indexing pension benefits to the CPI rate of inflation rather than wage growth, -- and basing the size of pension benefits on lifetime average salary rather than final salary. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Enacting these next generation reforms will make the macro reform process up to now look easy. The next government will have to overcome the populist tendencies of the 1990s that produced labor market regulations protecting life-long jobs and generous social security benefits as well as a statist, government-driven approach to economic management that is still widespread. If the next government is AKP-led, it will also have to overcome a perception that it is implementing a "hidden agenda" to Islamicize Turkish society and institutions with their "reforms" of long-established educational policies and the judiciary. The current political situation has pushed structural reforms to the back-burner, but the desire of the powerful Turkish business community to maintain growth and pressure from the EU and the IFIs means that these issues should be at the top of the next ANKARA 00001512 003 OF 003 government's agenda. However, how quickly reforms will be enacted will depend largely on whether a new government enjoys broad-based public and parliamentary support. Wilson