ANKARA
Automobile sales in Europe have risen by six percent in the first ten months of 2014 compared with the same period in 2013, Turkey's Automobile Distributors' Association said in a statement Wednesday.
Sales in Turkey have, however, decreased by 16.18 percent for the same period, the statement added.
The combined sales of the 28 EU member states and countries of the European Free Trade Association -- Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland -- between January and October this year reached 11,020,107, which is a 5.9 percent jump compared with the same period in 2013.
During the same period, automotive market sales in Turkey decreased by 16.18 percent, falling to 540,000.
The rising interest rate, declining Turkish lira’s value against the dollar, increasing special consumption tax for automobiles are the main reasons for decline in sales, Hayri Erce, General Coordinator of the distributors’ association’s said.
"The Turkish banking watchdog’s restrictions on credit-card usage, deceleration in the country’s growth and weak private sector consumption and investments are other factors that led to a sharp drop in automobile sale in the country," Erce added.
He also said the total automobile market volume in Turkey was expected to touch between 775,000 and 825,000 units sold this year.
According to Erce, U.S. Federal Reserve Bank’s expected interest-rate increase in parallel with economic recovery; European Central Bank’s decision to continue with monetary expansion to support economic recovery; Turkey’s geopolitical developments, structural reforms and upcoming elections would be decisive factors in automobile sales next year.
Meanwhile, sales in Europe rose by 6.2 percent in Oct. compared with the same month last year, the distributors’ association’s said.
The combined sales in the EU and European Free Trade Association states in Oct. reached 1,112,628 -- compared with 1,047,288 in Oct. last year, the distributors’ association said.
The highest increase – 31.1 percent -- was recorded in Romania, followed by Portuguese boasting a 29.6 percent rise and Spain, where there was a 26.1 percent hike. Sales dropped in France by 3.8 percent.
On Feb. 1, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency imposed new measures to curb the use of credit cards to pay for goods in monthly installments, in the hope it would restrict the country´s growing inflation and current account deficit.
The Turkish Central Bank raised rates sharply at the end of January to combat a record fall in the Turkish lira amid an emerging markets sell-off and political turmoil prior to March 30 local elections. It slashed rates by 0.5 percent, 0.75 percent and 0.50 percent in its May, June and July meetings.
The Turkish central bank left its benchmark interest rate at 8.25 percent for the third month in a row on Oct. 23 this year.
Separately, Turkey’s growth rate was 4.3 percent in the first quarter of 2014, but it slowed in the second quarter to 2.1 percent.
www.aa.com.tr/en
