Turkey's economy grows 0.9% in 2019

ANKARA

Turkey's economy posted a growth rate of 0.9% in 2019, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices stood at 4.28 trillion Turkish liras (some $755 billion) last year, TurkStat said.

The data showed that GDP per capita reached 51,834 Turkish liras ($9,127) in 2019 at current prices.

On a sectoral basis, the value added by the agricultural sector rose 3.3% in 2019, compared to 2018.

The services and industrial sectors enjoyed annual rises of 1.5% and 0.2%, respectively, while the construction sector dropped 8.6%.

A panel of 17 economists polled by Anadolu Agency on Thursday expected Turkey's 2019 economic growth rate to be 0.6%.

TurkStat data showed that in the last quarter of the year the economy expanded 6% year-on-year.

GDP was 1.2 trillion Turkish liras ($205.7 billion) in the fourth quarter, it said.

Economists' forecast for the last quarter of 2019 was 5.1% on average, with the lowest at 4.2% and the highest at 6.1%.

The Turkish economy grew 7.4% in 2018, while it narrowed 2.8% in the last quarter of the same year.

Turkey re-entered the road to growth in the third quarter of 2019 after three weak quarters.

The country's GDP expanded 0.9% year-on-year in the third quarter of last year after contracting 2.3% in the first quarter and 1.6% in the second, on an annual basis.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 5.68 on average in 2019.

Turkey's New Economic Program, announced last September, targets growth of 0.5% in 2019 and 5% in the following three years.