'Turkey to grow compatibly with medium-term targets'

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA

Turkey will grow compatibly with medium-term program targets during 2018, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Monday.

In a statement, Simsek said: "We see that the stabilization process in the economy begins with the effect of tightening the domestic and foreign financial condition."

Turningt Turkey's growth rate in the first quarter, he said Turkey’s growth target is 5.5 percent for 2018 in the medium term-program.

He stressed that prevailing uncertainties will decrease after the June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Turkey will provide structural reforms for sustainable growth, the deputy prime minister said.

He also said: "As a result of our policies to support employment, 8.8 million jobs were created in the last decade and 1.2 million last year."

Turkish economy expanded by 7.4 percent in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) revealed on Monday.

The three-month gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices climbed to around 792.7 billion Turkish liras (nearly $207.5 billion), according to TurkStat data.

Nihat Zeybekci, Turkey's economy minister, said that the government's targets will grow Turkey fast, reaching historical high in exports and investments during the rest of the year.

"In the second quarter of the year, recovery continues for economic activities according to the primer data," he stressed in a press note.

He noted that Turkey expects over 40 million tourists in 2018 and the tourism sector will contribute to the country's growth.

Turkey's growing performance provided more than 1.2 million additional employment in the last 12 months as of February 2018.

The number of unemployed persons in Turkey decreased by 2 percentage points to reach 10.6 percent or 3.35 million persons as of February 2018, versus the same period of the previous year, according to the TurkStat.