Turkish economy to grow 3 percent this year: Deputy PM
Date
9/12/2015 6:48:51 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 Ylmaz told Anadolu Agency on Sept. 11.
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 Ylmaz said in an interview at the Anadolu Agency Editorial Desk.
“Indicators showed that Turkey grew 3.1 percent in the first six months of the year. I can say that annual growth at the end of the year may reach 3 percent. But to give an exact number we should expect the announcement of the revised Medium-Term Economic Program” Ylmaz said.
“And in such a challenging global economy growing 3 percent is a significant success” he added.
In the second quarter of 2015 Turkey was the third fastest-growing country inEuropewith 3.8 percent growth year-on-year after Malta and theCzechRepublic according to figures from Eurostat and the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜK).
Ylmaz pointed out that despite global volatility 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 most persistent problems Ylmaz said Turkey had a current account deficit near 10 percent of the GDP just a few years back but it has now been cut to 5.5 percent of the 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” Ylmaz said.
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