EU Council raises Turkey's GDP growth forecast for 2019

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - European Council's report, "Autumn 2019 Economic Forecast," on Thursday raised its growth expectation for Turkey's GDP this year from minus 2.3% to 0.3%.

The report, of which previous version was released last Spring, also expected that the Turkish economy will grow 3.1% in 2020 and 3.5% in 2021.

Meanwhile, the report's previous 2020 forecast for GDP growth was 3.9%.

"The economy recovered faster than expected from last year’s currency crisis, supported by a large fiscal stimulus and strong growth contribution of net exports," the report said.

The Turkish economy grew 7.4% in 2017 and 2.6% last year.

The country's new economic program, released at the end of this September, suggested a growth target of 0.5% this year, and 5% for the next three years.

The report also forecasted unemployment rate to drop to 13.7% this year, 13.3% next year and 12.9% in 2021.

Consumer Price Index -- also known as inflation rate -- is to stand at 15.3% in 2019, 10.3% in 2020 and 9.3% in 2021 according to the report's expectations.

The report's growth expectations were 1.4% for the EU, 1.1% for the eurozone, 1.7% for advanced economies, 3.9% for emerging and developing economies and 2.9% for the world economy in 2019.