By Aysu Bicer
ANKARA (AA) - US-based multinational banking and financial services company JP Morgan on Friday revised its estimate for Turkey's economic growth for 2020 from 1.1% to 1.9%.
According to a report published by the firm, despite containment measures such as lockdowns, domestic demand was quite resilient in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The Turkish economy's growth figures always "surprises to the upside," mirroring the robustness and flexibility of the Turkish private sector, it noted.
Underlining the country's experience in handling crises in previous years, the report highlighted it was not particularly surprising that Turkey outshined its peers amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
It pointed out that one of the main reasons for this outperformance was the massive government-led credit growth in the first half of last year, supporting the economy to recover from the pandemic.
- Growth forecast for 2021
JP Morgan also revised up its 2021 growth figures for Turkey from 3.3% to 4.6%, noting that more rigid financial conditions and ongoing lockdowns will stay a drag. The carry-over from 2020 will, however, be much larger than previously predicted and the support from net exports could be higher.
The report also underlined that this year, the economy could see higher growth, given the more promising expectations for the tourism sector's performance, as well as the vaccination process.