turkey turns on the economic charm three years after a gruelling economic crisis turkey has dressed its economy to impress as part of a charm offensive ahead of 17 december when the european union will decide whether to start entry talks turkey s economic leaders have been banging the drum to draw attention to recent achievements the economy is growing fast they insist education levels among its young and large population are rising unemployment levels in percentage terms are heading fast towards single digits inflation is under control a new law to govern its turbulent banking system is on the cards the tourism industry is booming and revenues from visitors should more than double to 21bn 108bn in three years moreover government spending is set to be frozen and a burdensome social security deficit is being tackled income and corporate taxes will be cut next year in order to attract 15bn of foreign investment over the next three years a loan restructuring deal with the international monetary fund imf is pretty much in the can and following recent macroeconomic restructuring efforts its currency is floating freely and its central bank is independent the point of all this has been to convince europe s decision makers that rather than being a phenomenally costly exercise for the eu allowing turkey in would in fact bring masses of economic benefits the cake will be bigger for everybody said deputy prime minister abdullatif sener earlier this month turkey will not be a burden for the eu budget if admitted into the eu turkey would contribute almost 6bn euros 8bn 6bn to its budget by 2014 according to a recent impact study by the country s state planning organisation as turkey s gross domestic output gdp is set to grow by 6 per year on average its contribution would rise from less than 5bn euros in 2014 to almost 9bn euros by 2020 turkey could also help alleviate a labour shortage in old europe once its population comes of age by 2014 one in four turks or about 18 million people will be aged 14 or less a literate and qualified turkish population insisted mr sener will make a positive impact on the eu this runs contrary to the popular view that turkey is getting ready to dig deep into eu taxpayers wallets however turkey s assertions are confirmed by brussels own impact studies which indeed say that turkish membership would be good news for the eu economy but only over time costs are projected to be vast during the early years of turkey s membership with subsidies alone estimated to exceed 165bn euros and according to some predictions balloon to 335bn euros this would include vast agricultural subsidies and regional aid though such payments should decline as the country s farm sector which currently employs one in three turks would employ just one in five by 2020 such high initial expenses would be coupled with risks that the benefits flagged