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which the goods are imported. Most of these will arrive in the customs shed at
Famagusta where the items are registered as imports. The same goods are sold to
individuai travellers from Turkey, who pay less tax in northern Cyprus for the
same goods, in the same currency and who have no équivalent bureaucracy to deal
with. They have not needed to provide foreign currency, and will usually export the
goods without declaring them. Goods sold in the "gift fair" trade are thus registered
as imports consumed Iocally, but are really re-exported in exchange for "local"
Turkish currency. The scale of (mainland) Turkish arrivais, over 60,000 in 1975,
over 100,000 in 1978, most of whom stayed less than five days, and visited
northern Cyprus primarily to shop, tends to suggest that "gift fair" was significant
and may lead to distorted interprétations of trade statistics.
Figure 4.4 The value of trade in the "TRNC" represented as a percentage ofGDP.
Source: "Statistical Yearbooks", 1982-1990. "State" Planning Organisation, north Nicosia.
The problem with this officiai assessment, is that the scale of imports and the scale
° f its imbalance with reœrded exports does not rise with the level of Turkish short
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