Documents / FOIA release

Current Intelligence Weekly Summary

Central Intelligence Agency · 1962-03-23 · 42 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is the Central Intelligence Agency's Current Intelligence Weekly Summary of 23 March 1962, a secret digest from the Office of Current Intelligence covering world events. It reviews Soviet foreign policy on Berlin, the Berlin air corridors, disarmament and a nuclear test ban. It also covers Algeria, Argentina's elections, the Congo, Laos, South Vietnam, Guatemala, food rationing in Cuba and Middle East tensions. Special articles assess Brazil under Goulart and Turkey's economic prospects. It contains no UFO material.

  • p. 35 …Large areas of Turkey are well suited for stock raising, and a ready foreign market ex…
Approved for Release: 2026/03/06 C03176167
rs ,3
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE WEEKLY’ SUHARY
TURKEY'S ECONOMIC PROSPECTS
The Turkish Government,
with its prospects somewhat
improved by the weakening of
organized opposition at both
ends of the political spectrum,
is beginning its first fiscal
year in office (1 March 1962
to 28 February 1963) with a
one-year program designed to
prepare the national economy
for a period of growth during
the 1963-1968 Five-Year Plan.
As in the past, Turkey will
need to rely on outside assist-
ance to cover current deficits
as well as to finance long-term
development projects. Although
its strategic value as an ally
will be stressed in appeals for
aid to the US, West Germany,
and NATO, Turkey must also con-
vince potential sources of
foreign credit that its long-
term economic prospects make
the country a sound investment.
The obstacles are formid-
able. The country's failure to
put to good use the massive as-
sistance received during the
past decade, the legacy of waste
and mismanagement inherited
from the Menderes government,
and the generally poor showing
of the state enterprises which
dominate the most active sectors
of the economy tend to discour-
age investment in Turkey. In-
flation, which threatened na-
tional bankruptcy in the summer
of 1958, is not now a serious
threat, however, having been
checked by the fiscal austerity
of the Committee of National
Unity (CNU) government which
held office between the over-
throw of the Menderes regime
and the October 1961 elections.
The most pressing problems with
which Turkish economic planners
must cope during fiscal 1962 are
unemployment, which is growing
as surplus rural workers move to
the cities, and general economic
stagnation.
Short-term Outlook
The 1962 budget, approved
on 28 February, is of record
size (approximately $1 billion)
and calls for a deficit of
nearly $130 million. Aid from
the US and West Germany is ex-
pected to offset about $75 mil-
lion of this deficit. If addi-
tional foreign credits are not
obtained from NATO or from in-
ternational lending agencies,
the remainder will be met by
currency issue.
The "fixed" items of de-
fense and administrative costs
have been held at levels only
slightly higher than in 1961.
Roughly proportionate across-
the-board increases are planned
in government investment in hous-
ing, agriculture, electric power,
transport and communications,
education and public health,
and industry, but these also
appear set at reasonable levels.
Revenue estimates seem
somewhat optimistic, perhaps
in the expectation of a con-
tinuation of recent better than
average exports of certain com-
modities. The hope that Turkey
will be admitted to the European
Common Market may also have in-
fluenced some of the foreign
trade projections. Several new
sources of revenue not reflected
in the estimates may develop,
however, in the form of increased
transfer payments from Turks work-
ing abroad and direct tax rev-
enues from agricultural produc-
tion. These may help to offset
the expected decline in private
capital inflow.
Longer Term Prospects
Turkey's economic progress
toward self-sufficiency under
the coming Five-Year Plan will
depend on its success in raising
yaw?
23 Mar 62 Approved°FF>F§§|§§seznfimnfié/be/3§ 003175167 Page 6 °f 8

Not linked to a story yet.

About this file

FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 42 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.