Investment expenditure and capital accumulation in an inflationary environment: The case of Turkey

Abstract

The empirical results of the paper show that the private fixed capital accumulation in Turkey is constrained by the demand constraint and the availability of financial resources. The significance of the liquidity variable clearly points out that credit policy and accommodating monetary policy with the lower rates of interests must be the essential elements of economic policies that revive investment in Turkey. It seems from the empirical results that the cost of capital has a significant but discouraging effect on investment expenditure. With this empirical finding it also becomes evident that fiscal stimuli would work in stimulating private investment, they must be the essential components of an investment programme in Turkey. In regard with the purpose of this paper, the variable, namely the willingness-to-invest, that is expected to capture the perception of investors on investment climate, also appears to be significant factors for the overall sample period. Interestingly, the speed of adjustment of private investment from disequilibrium is fairly slow. This is because there may be some frictions (such as heavy tax burden) and/or some structural constraints (e.g. insufficient infrastructure and inadequate legislative structure) in the economy causing this slow down. In reviving private investment, especially in the long run, one must pay attention to the importance of these factors, and appropriate government actions have to be taken.