Turkey

Economy Overview

Turkey occupies a unique position in EM investing — it is simultaneously a NATO member, a BRICS dialogue partner, and one of the few major economies that has navigated stratospheric inflation without a sovereign default. GDP of approximately $1.1 trillion is powered by manufacturing, tourism (the country's most stable hard currency earner at $60B+ annually), and a domestic banking sector that operates under an unconventional policy framework that kept real rates deeply negative for years before a painful orthodox pivot in 2023. The TRY has lost over 90% of its value against the dollar in the past decade, which makes Turkish equities in local-currency terms one of EM's best-performing asset classes when measured correctly — Borsa Istanbul equities are effectively an inflation hedge for local capital, and dollar-denominated Turkish corporates offer high-yield spreads with relatively sophisticated balance sheets. The exchange lists 570+ companies across auto parts, white goods, construction materials, and textiles — sectors where Turkish exporters compete directly with China for European market share. For HNWI with USD or EUR base currencies, the structural TRY depreciation risk is the dominant consideration; most international exposure is taken through Eurobond issues or USD-cleared Turkish corporate credit rather than local equity.

Key Sectors