Türkiye budgets nearly $198M to combat informal economy

By Serhat Tutak, Seda Tolmac, and Emir Yildirim

Türkiye is planning to allocate $197.7 million to combat the informal economy to ensure trust and control while preventing irregularities, according to the government’s 2026 budget bill.

Efforts are underway to prevent the disruption of public order in customs and smuggling, as Türkiye continues its fight against the informal economy.

The plan is to develop the integration of control and monitoring mechanisms to prevent the use of legislation and systems for unintended purposes, leveraging high-tech systems produced via domestic means.

There are also plans for efforts to use domestically made products to fight smuggling, as the Militar-III Project aims to produce semi-fixed, mobile, and ghost systems, as well as hybrid technology scanning systems, artificial intelligence (AI) and image sharing network, accelerators, and detectors in 2025–2027.

Türkiye aims to continue cooperating with international institutions, boosting the number of detection dogs and handlers, and providing them world-class training in its fight against customs smuggling.

Detector dogs play effective roles in rapid searches, especially in customs. Their number reached 255 this year with plans for an increase to 260 by the end of 2027.

The number of data analysis teams specializing in contraband is planned to be 36 by year’s-end and 40 by 2026.

The number of technical systems and equipment used in detection and prevention of illegal activities is expected to total 2,190 by the end of this year and 2,375 next year, while the annual number of inspections is expected to rise from 3,800 by the end of this year to 3,875 in 2026.

The bill allocates over $195 million to achieve these goals.