Recent developments in the Turkish economy have created a sense of optimism that the economic turmoil of 2018 may soon be nothing more than a small hiccup on an otherwise positive trend.The Istanbul Chamber of Industry reported that Türkiye's Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the manufacturing sector rose to 51.3 in January 2020. This marked its highest level in the past 22 months and also the first time that it surpassed 50 during that same period.
Improvement in demand enabled new orders to move into the growth region. While the speed of growth was moderate, it was at its strongest level since March 2018. New orders in January improved with the recovery in demand, the report noted.
This is an indicator that Türkiye is making a strong start to 2020 with production-based growth, commented Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak.
The Istanbul Chamber of Industry prepared the report in cooperation with London-based global data firm IHS Markit.
Türkiye’s annual inflation rate rose a little more than expected in January 2020, to 12.15 percent from 11.84 percent in December 2019. However, the increase stems from a weaker base affect and rising domestic demand. So, this slight increase in CPI data is not meaningful and not significant enough to make any upward revisions in inflation expectations. The annual inflation rate, which rose to around 25% in 2018, is still expected to fall gradually to single digits again in 2020.
The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced that Türkiye’s population reached 83.2 million in 2019. This shows Türkiye’s annual population growth rate hit 1.39 percent as the country added 1.15 million people from the previous year.
The median age of country’s population was recorded as 32.4 in the same year, up from 32 in 2018.
According the data, male population of Türkiye was 41.7 million people while the female population was 41.4 million.
The report also reveals that 92.8 percent of Türkiye’s population is living in cities while 7.2 percent is in towns and villages.