Star - Türkiye’s economy continues on its growth track for the 15th consecutive quarter, expanding by 4.4 percent in the second quarter of 2013, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
The 4.4 percent growth rate exceeds forecasts and makes the country the highest performing economy in Europe and the third fastest grower in the world. Meanwhile, TurkStat revised the country’s first quarter growth down to 2.9 percent from 3 percent, which, combined with the newly released figures, corresponds to a 3.7 percent growth for the first half.
Commenting on the news, Türkiye’s Minister of Economy, Zafer Caglayan, said that the 4.4 percent was admirably positive given the status of the world economy. “Despite the regional uncertainties, Türkiye has been growing at an annual average rate of 5.3 percent in the last decade. Our second quarter performance indicates that annual growth rate will be slightly below 4 percent.”, he remarked.
Türkiye’s annual GDP growth stood at 2.2 percent in 2012, following impressive growth rate figures of 9.2 and 8.5 percent in 2010 and 2011 respectively. The country aims to reach 4 percent of GDP growth rate in 2013 as per the government’s medium term program.