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Energy is the driving force of economics and development in every country. The availability and utilization of energy is fundamental for all economic activities, commerce and the development of countries. However, when the energy is insufficient, this impacts negatively on the lives of people, private businesses, industries and economic development. Moreover, the decline in economic activities, downturn in industrial operations and decrease in the welfare of a country could be the outcome of energy related issues. Throughout the last few decades, energy emerges as a significant factor in the development of countries. This is also corelated with the efficient usage of energy. The efficient use of energy is referred to the effective and efficient utilization of available energy sources. The amount of energy that a country enjoys is important at this point. The intensity of the energy could be used as a proxy of energy efficiency in an economy. The more intense is the utilization of energy, the more would be the cost of turning raw materials into final products. This could impact tremendously on the economic performance and the standard of living in countries (Mahmood & Kanwal, 2017; Şahbudak & Sahin, 2016).
The issue of energy is substantial for any country’s development, economic growth and commercial enhancement. Increases and decreases in energy supply, demand and pricing affect the social and economic development as well as the living standard in a country. Moreover, the increasing level of economic development increases the energy consumption more. The commercial openness and increasing volume of trade are fundamental elements of economic growth as well as the more international trade increases, the more economic activities and energy need would increase. The economic conditions in a country as well as the correlation between economic growth and commercial openness signify the effect of trade openness on energy demand. Energy demand in a country impact on trade openness, trade surplus or deficit or current account issues by various means. First of all, energy is a fundamental factor of production, since other factors of production (natural resources, labor, capital, entrepreneur, technology and knowledge) can hardly function without it and energy is a requirement for them to be meaningful. Furthermore, the exportation and importation of final products, intermediate goods and raw materials necessitate energy. When the energy supply is inadequate, the openness of trade would be disaffected. Eventually, energy is a significant component of commercial expansion and the sufficient utilization of energy is fundamental for economic development. Therefore, the correlation between commercial openness and energy utilization is substantial. Furthermore, the issue of secure energy supply is important thanks to increasing awareness of the of human and economic activities and operations as well as its impact on nature. Energy is a fundamental condition of economic development and its pricing impacts on the production of goods and services. Nonetheless, the sufficiency of energy impacts on the economic growth and development of a country since it is an indispensable input in the production process. For, sustaining a reliable and affordable energy supply is of great importance for economic stability and energy sustainability. With respect to this, the secure supply of energy is indispensable and could be defined as the effective management of fundamental energy supplies from domestic and external sources, infrastructural energy reliability as well as the capability of energy providers to meet current and future needs of humanity. Turkey, situated at the threshold of Eurasia, is a country whose energy demand increases steadily. It is one of the 20 largest economies in the world and its energy demand increases day by day. However, the Republic of Turkey is not self-sufficient with respect to energy production. Therefore, it has got to import energy from neighboring countries which also causes trade and current account deficits (Şahbudak & Sahin, 2016; Jakovac, 2018; Samawi et al., 2017; Mahmood & Kanwal, 2017; Vlihinic-Dizdarevic & Zikovic, 2010). Thus, the objective of this study is to research the Turkey’s natural gas dependency on Russia and the impact of this issue on the current account deficit.