Turkey’s Inability to Produce High-tech Products Leads to Economic Loss

As reported by Hurriyet, due to high-technology products, Turkey is undergoing huge economic loss as the country has to import the technological products every year amounting to billions of dollars from foreign countries. The country pays an approximate of $7.8 billion annually to import high-tech products which are not manufactured in Turkey, the report from ISMMMO (Istanbul Chamber of Certified Public Accountants) specifies that such products are 18 in number. Over five years, the total amount paid to foreign countries amounts to almost $30 billion as per the report. The report also specified that the high-tech products which are imported from foreign countries includes medical imaging devices, optical instruments, printer and copier machines and consumer electronics like digital cameras and mobile phones. These products are imported from Eastern Asian countries. Laptops occupies the third place in the import list with the total amount of import being $4.4 million, components of informatics product lies at fourth place with total import cost of $2.6 million. Scanners, printers and copiers total to $1.4 million in import list. Watches sector also has a dominant share in import market with the cost being 1 million of the total amount. Arikan stated, commenting on the debate regarding domestic automobile production “Before discussing the automobile production at domestic level, we should have discussion regarding our economy wherein we are unable to produce motorboats, cameras, camera lenses, watches and blood pressure gauges”. Arikan maintained that Turkey is also able to produce technology, only the planning, investment, cooperation and specialization is required. By harnessing the technological revolution only, our country can be prosperous and socially stable”.