Turkey- Turkish economy to grow 3 percent this year: Minister
Date
9/11/2015 12:21:09 PM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) The Turkish economy is expected to grow only 3 percent this year a reduction from the government's target of 4 percent growth Deputy Prime Minister Cevdet Yilmaz responsible for the economy told Anadolu Agency on Friday.
The target set by the government's Medium-Term Economic Program may be cut by 1 percentage point due to volatility in global markets and political uncertainty ahead of snap-elections Yilmaz said in an interview at the Anadolu Agency Editorial Desk.
“Indicators showed that Turkey grew 3.1 percent in first six months of the year. I can say that annual growth at the end of year may reach 3 percent. But to give an exact number we should expect the announcement of revised Medium-Term Economic Program" Yilmaz said.
"And in such a challenging global economy growing 3 percent is a significant success" he added.
In the second quarter of the 2015 Turkey was the third fastest-growing country in Europe with 3.8 percent growth year-on-year after Malta and the Czech Republic according to figures from Eurostat and the Turkish Statistical Institute.
Yilmaz pointed out that despite global volatility and uncertainty in world markets geopolitical risk around Turkey and recent terrorist activities within its borders Turkey managed to show economic resilience.
"Our second quarter growth rate was 3.8 percent. The rate for the first half was 3.1 percent. When you take into account all [negative] factors this is not a performance to look down on. Despite volatility in financial markets the real economy proceeds on its way” he said.
Regarding the high current account deficit which is one of the Turkish economy’s persistent problems Yilmaz said that Turkey had a current account deficit near 10 percent of GDP just a few years back but it has now been cut to 5.5 percent of GDP.
"This year we expect the current account deficit to come down below $40 billion. But we will assess this target once more in our new Medium-Term Program” Yilmaz said.
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