S&P boosts Turkey's GDP forecast to 8.6%

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - International credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) raised its gross domestic product growth forecast for Turkey to 8.6% in a fresh report released late on Monday.

While the agency's previous forecast had been 6.1% for 2021, it did not change its forecasts for 2022 and 2023, keeping them at 3.3% and 3.1%, respectively.

The agency said emerging markets in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia saw rapid growth in the second quarter of the year thanks to the stronger consumption and exports.

"As a result, we have revised up our 2021 growth forecasts for Poland, Russia, South Africa, and Turkey," it said.

S&P recalled that while Poland and Russia had reached pre-pandemic growth figures in the second quarter, Turkey's real GDP exceeded its pre-pandemic level by 9%.

It also underlined that the tourism season had boosted Turkey's foreign currency revenues.