Red hot Turkey worth watching

FOR A COUNTRY in Europe’s backyard with a population of 70+ million Turkey has got to be on anyone’s watch list. Dogged by opaque business practice and held back from joining Europe’s mainstream by its Islamic majority, Turkey has long been considered an emerging market which hasn’t yet emerged. Now, however that looks set to change. This youth oriented and sports mad country posted the highest growth of anywhere in the World in the past 12 months at 11% y-o-y. It is also running a large balance of payments deficit suggesting its middle classes are sucking in increasing quantities of imported goods. Local companies have been active in the sponsorship market and Turkish bank TEB recently announced a deal to co-badge the WTA Championships in Istanbul with parent company BNP Paribas. These isolated instances are likely to multiply as sponsors and sports events wake up to this new frontier of possibilities. And with the likelihood of Turkey making a bid for the 2020 Olympics ever-increasing, the IOC are sure to have at least one eye on the controversial nation.