DEPENDENCY ON IMPORTED ENERGY IN TURKEY: INPUT- OUTPUT ANALYSIS

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to reveal the extent of the import dependency on electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply (EGSA), the basic component of energy, in Turkey. Such that growing industrialization in Turkey has expanded the need for energy since many sectors use energy as input to produce output. However, Turkey’s domestic production fails to meet the energy demand. For this reason, Turkey meets approximately 75 percent of its energy needs through imports, leading to an increase in the current account deficit. Energy imports, approximately 20 percent of total imports, have become the primary component of the current account deficit, exposing the Turkish economy to instabilities in global gas and oil prices and several additional risks. In this context, we analyzed the extent of the dependency on energy by the input-output tables of 2002 and 2012. The results underline that as production increases, energy imports increase, and the economic leakage generated by the rise in demand for energy increases. This creates a significant obstacle to the development of the Turkish economy. Hence, existing policies for domestic energy production need to be strengthened for sustainable development goals and to decrease the high current account deficit in Turkey.