Turkey: Economic confidence down in January

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Confidence in Turkey’s economy slipped month-on-month in January, falling 4.2 percent, the Turkish Statistical Institute said on Wednesday.

In January, confidence index fell to 78.5 versus 81.9 in December 2018, the official data showed.

The month-on-month decrease stemmed from drops in consumer, real sector, services and retail trade confidence indices to 58.2, 95.4, 78.3 and 92.5 in January, respectively.

Meanwhile, the construction confidence was the only index which saw an increase to reach 56.7 in the first month of 2019.

The economic confidence index is seen as a significant reading of the economic course as it is a composite index that aggregates sub-indices of consumer confidence, real sector services, retail trade and construction confidence indices, reflecting an overall sentiment of health of the economy.