Turkey to post strong growth in Q3: Industry minister

By Muhammet Mutaf and Mesut Karaduman

TEKIRDAG, Turkey (AA) - Turkey will post a strong economic growth in the third quarter of this year, the country’s industry and technology minister said on Friday, hoping the trend will continue in November and December.

Turkey entered a recovery process after passing a difficult month of April, when the first COVID-19 case appeared in Turkey, Mustafa Varank said during the opening ceremony of a factory in the northwestern Tekirdag province.

New orders, capacity usage, investments and exports in the manufacturing industry are increasing, Varank noted.

Speaking about COVID-19-related restrictions in the EU, he said: "I hope the closures [in the EU] will not affect us negatively. Of course, this is not in our control.

"Our main priority is to look for ways to preserve the strength of our industry at all times."

The Turkish economy expanded by 0.9% in 2019, 4.4% in the first quarter of this year and minus 9.9% in the second quarter, on a yearly basis.

*Writing by Gokhan Ergocun from Istanbul