2.2 Economic environment and business structure
At the macro level, Turkish economic environment, strengthened by the government's neo- liberalization measures since the early 1980s, demonstrates a commitment for growth. The Turkish economy grew at a rate of 4.2 % in the period 1990-1998. However the neo- liberalization process has intensified the income inequalities and as it can be seen from the Statistical Profile of the GLOBE, Turkey with a Gini Index of 41.5 stands among the countries with highly unequal distribution of income. Nearly 65% of the GLOBE sample countries have a more equal income distribution than Turkey.
In 2001, Turkey's gross national product (GNP) was estimated to be US$ 147,062M, equivalent to $2,143 per person. Agriculture (including forestry and fishing) contributed 12.9% to GDP and industry (including mining, manufacturing, construction and power) contributed 30.4% to GDP in 2001. According to 2002 second quarter figures, about 35% of the employed population worked in agriculture, and 18.7% in industry.
Turkey has been experiencing high inflation rates, over 30% per year since mid-1980s. Political instability within the country and its geographic neighborhood has exacerbated economic difficulties making for a highly turbulent economic environment for business. Furthermore, there
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exist large differences in economic development between western and eastern Turkey. The eastern part of the country is rural and much more traditional whereas the western region is industrialized, more urban and westernized. [37] [38]