Turkish 2019 GDP growth rate of 0.6% expected: Survey

By Murat Birinci

ISTANBUL (AA) - The growth of the Turkish economy for 2019 is expected to come in at 0.6%, according to an Anadolu Agency survey on Thursday.

A panel of 17 economists projected the country's GDP rose 0.6% in 2019, varying between 0.2% and 0.9%.

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

The Turkish economy grew by 7.4% in 2018, while it narrowed by 2.8% in the last quarter of 2018. It continued to shrink in the first two quarters of 2019 by 2.8% and 2.3%, respectively.

After three weak quarters, the country's GDP posted 0.9% growth rate in the third quarter of 2019. GDP figures for the last quarter and the whole year will be released next week by the country's statistical authority, TurkStat.

Meanwhile, Anadolu Agency's survey also forecast that the country's economy will grow by 3.9% in 2020, with predictions ranging between 2.5% and 5.2%.

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

Several international institutions, such as the IMF and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), expect positive growth of Turkey's GDP in 2019 and thereafter.