Turkey sees 4.3% economic growth

Turkey predicts annual real economic growth at 4.3% on average between 2019-2023, it said on Monday in an ambitious five-year development plan promising efficiency and competitiveness.

Turkey’s economy shrunk 2.6% in the first three months of 2019, after 3% contraction in the last quarter of 2018, following last year’s currency crisis which erased 30% of the lira’s value against the US dollar and sent inflation to a peak. The development plan said the first year would be “rebalancing” followed by upwards growth rates.

Gross domestic product is targeted to reach $1.08 trillion by 2023, the plan said, compared to $784.09 billion in 2018, according to official data.

The plan expects annual exports to reach $226.6 billion in 2023 versus 2018 exports of $168 billion. It also foresees 9.9% unemployment at the end of 2023, while it also predicts Turkey will create 4.3 million additional jobs over the period.

The current account deficit, a concern for many economists which makes Turkey reliant on foreign currency inflows, is expected to stand at $9.9 billion by 2023. The current account recorded a deficit of $27.63 billion at the end of 2018.

Annual consumer inflation is targeted to stand at 5% by 2023, the plan also said. The latest official data put inflation at 15.72% in June.

Turkey has been issuing such development plans every five years since the 1960s.

Confidence in Turkey’s economy improved on a monthly basis in June, the Turkish Statistical Institute  said on June 27. The country’s economic confidence index reached 83.4 this month, rising 7.6% from May, TÜİK said in a statement.

Agencies