Turkish business circle banking on faster growth rate

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's business community expects a stronger Turkish economy and faster growth rate in the coming days.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices expanded by 0.9% year-on-year in the third quarter to reach 1.15 trillion Turkish liras ($201.9 billion).

Rifat Hisarciklioglu, the chairman of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), said the growth rate of 0.9% was the first sign of recovery.

The narrowing period during the last three quarters has ended raising hopes for the future, he said.

The Turkish economy posted 2.6% growth in 2018, narrowing in the last quarter. It slipped to negative 2.4% and 1.5% in the first two quarters of 2019, respectively.

He said the economy will grow by 5% in the last quarter of this year, posting a 1% overall growth rate for this year.

Abdurrahman Kaan, head of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen's Association (MUSIAD), stressed the Turkish economy, which showed a strong reaction against the currency crisis in August 2018, will close 2019 with a recovery.

In the third quarter, growth was supported by agriculture, industry and services sectors, he said.

He said: "The Central Bank's interest rate cuts and the continuation of macroprudential policies may increase growth rate and enable a faster recovery."

Nail Olpak, the president of Turkey's Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), noted decreasing inflation and interest rates and increasing real sector and consumer confidence indices show that the Turkish economy will grow faster in the coming period.

He said: "In recent years, when Turkey's economy was growing rapidly, the current account deficit and fragility were also soaring.

"At this point, we are entering a rapid growth path with a current surplus."

He underlined that Turkey will close the year with a higher growth rate than expectations.

The year-end growth rate was expected at 0.4%, according to a survey conducted by Anadolu Agency.

Several international institutions, such as World Bank, the IMF and the OECD, expect positive growth rate for Turkey in 2019 and following years.