ANKARA
Turkey’s economy has grown more than expected in the final quarter of 2014 year-on-year, ceasing its downward momentum seen since the second quarter, official data revealed Tuesday.
The Turkish Statistical Institute said that the country’s growth rate was at 2.6 percent for the last quarter of 2014, and annual growth stood at 2.9 percent, both of which were higher than previously estimated.
On March 24, Turkish economists polled by The Anadolu Agency estimated that the country's economy would grow by 2.3 percent in the last quarter of 2014 and 2.7 percent in the year overall.
The Turkish economy started the year with a robust 4.3 percent growth rate, but then it slowed to 2.1 percent in the second quarter and 1.7 percent in the third quarter as the stalling Eurozone economy and geopolitical crises adversely affected Turkish economy.
“On a quarterly base, the rebound in the last quarter after a weak third quarter growth performance was mainly driven by an increase in household consumption,” ALB Securities’ Analyst Enver Erkan said.
“On the other hand, the relative improvement in the annual base was attributed to net exports and government expenditures,” Erkan added.
However, the analyst pointed out that Turkey’s Gross Domestic Product per capita dropped to $10,400 due to the depreciation of the Turkish lira against the U.S. dollar. He predicted that Turkey’s economy would grow just 1.5 percent in the first quarter of 2015 and 2 percent in 2015 as a whole, adding that a weak industrial output and exports as well as a sharp volatility in exchange rates would limit growth prospects.
