UPDATE - Turkey's gross domestic product totals at $170B in Q1

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices totaled 914.7 billion Turkish liras (some $170.4 billion) from January to March, the country's statistical authority announced Friday.

Turkish economy contracted by 2.6% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, TurkStat said.

A group of 15 economists polled by Anadolu Agency on Wednesday had projected the Turkish economy to have shrunk 2.5% during the period, with forecasts hovering between minus 1.7% and minus 4.3%.

TurkStat said total value-added surged 2.5% in the agricultural sector, while falling 4.3% in industry, 10.9% in the construction sector and 4% in services, compared with the same quarter of last year.

The institute added that seasonally- and calendar-adjusted gross domestic product rose by 1.3% from the previous quarter.

The country's economy grew 2.6% in 2018 while its GDP at current prices was 3.7 trillion Turkish liras (some $784 billion).

As laid out in Turkey's new economic program announced last September, the economic growth target of the Turkish government is 2.3% this year, 3.5% next year and 5% by 2021.