Turkey: Economic Confidence Index goes down in December

ANKARA (AA) - Confidence in Turkey’s economy weakened among consumers and businesses in December, according to Turkish Statistical Institute on Thursday.

The Economic Confidence Index decreased by 18.5 percent in December, TurkStat said in a statement.

"This decrease in the Economic Confidence Index stemmed from the decrease in consumer, real sector and services confidence indices," the statement said.

The sub-index tracking consumer confidence fell by 8 percent last month to 63.38. The sub-index for the real sector dropped by 3.7 percent to 103.60 in January, and that of services fell by 3.5 percent to 93.35.

However, for the retail trade, the reading for confidence increased slightly by 0.1 percent to 96.13 and the Construction Confidence index went up by 0.5 percent.

Driven largely by public spending and domestic consumption, Turkey’s economy was expected to grow by 3.1 percent in the year, according to World Bank statistics.

Meanwhile, the Turkish lira declined by almost 3 percent against the U.S. dollar.

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.