Turkey: GDP up 2.3 percent in first quarter

ANKARA 

Turkey’s economy saw unexpectedly strong growth at 2.3 percent in the first quarter of the year, the Turkish Statistical Institute said in a statement Wednesday.

"Gross domestic product increased by 2.3 percent, compared with the same quarter of previous year, in the first quarter of 2015 and reached 30.9 billion Turkish liras ($11.4 billion) at constant prices," the statement said.

A panel of economists had forecast growth of 1.6 percent in the first quarter of 2015, according to a poll by Anadolu Agency.

At current prices, GDP jumped 7.8 percent in the first quarter, the statement said. Current prices include price rises from last year in calculating growth.

The report showed that GDP also increased by 1.3 percent from the previous quarter.

Household final consumption was main driver of the growth in first quarter the year compared with previous quarters in which exports usually led growth.

"A surge in consumer spending was the main driver behind growth in this quarter," commented William Jackson, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics in London. "But it's not clear that this will be sustainable."

Household final consumption expenditure increased by 4.5 percent and reached 20.9 billion Turkish Liras ($7.74 billion) at constant prices in the first quarter of 2015 compared with the same quarter of previous year.

"When we look at the content of the growth we see that the services sector is one of biggest factors," ALB Securities analyst Enver Erkan said.

"With its 62.7 percent share in growth, the services sector showed an increase of 4.1 percent annually." he added.

The report showed, however, that exports decreased by 0.3 percent year-on-year in same period to 7.8 billion Turkish Liras ($2.9 billion) at constant prices in the first quarter of 2015.