Turkey: Economic confidence soars in November

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Confidence in Turkey's economy surged 9.1 percent this November, the nation’s statistical authority announced Thursday.

TurkStat said the economic confidence index hit 73.7 this month, up from 67.5 in October.

"This increase in the economic confidence index stemmed from increases in the consumer, real sector, services, and retail trade confidence indices," the institute said.

In November, the consumer confidence index rose to 59.6 from 57.3 last month, and the real sector -- manufacturing industry -- confidence index rose to 96.8, up from 91.1.

On a monthly basis, the services and retail trade confidence indices climbed 5.4 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.

This month, only the construction confidence index declined, down 3.5 percent to 56.6.

"The economic confidence index is a composite index that encapsulates consumers' and producers' evaluations, expectations, and tendencies about the general economic situation," TurkStat said.

The institute stated that a total of 20 sub-indices are used in the calculation, with data collected in the first two weeks of each month.

A value above 100 shows an optimistic outlook for the general economic situation, while a value below 100, a pessimistic outlook.