Turkey's Budgetary Responses to the Pandemic and Comparison of the Stringency Level of Interventions in Turkey and Countries in East, South, and Southeast Asia

Abstract

This study analyses strategies for responding to COVID-19 via considerations of the Turkish state budget, the effects of the pandemic, and projections of macroeconomic and fiscal indicators. Additionally, the stringency level of Turkey's interventions in the pandemic is examined by comparing the responses of countries in East, South, and Southeast Asia. The aims of the study are to analyse Turkey’s fiscal responses to COVID-19 and to assess future estimates of economic and fiscal indicators. Another objective is to compare the level of rigour of the Turkish government's interventions with that of selected Asian countries using various indices calculated by the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT). Data belonging to macroeconomic and fiscal indicators of Turkey were examined from 2019 to 2023 using proportional analysis, and countries’ response indices were calculated by averaging daily data from OxCGRT between 11 March 2020 and 28 February 2021. The study includes comparative results based on the relationship between fiscal responses and the rigour level of interventions. The originality is to be the first study that comprehensively examines Turkey’s responses to the COVID-19 and its effects on the state budgeting in the short and medium-terms. It is reported that the Turkish government has taken decisive actions in the face of the pandemic when compared to Asian countries but response costs have driven significant increases in the planned levels of budget and borrowing.