Turkish economic confidence hits four-year high

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - The confidence in Turkey's economy hit its highest level since November 2013, according to official data released on Friday, underscoring the economy's resilience following last year's July 15 defeated coup attempt.

The economic confidence index increased by 4.5 percent to 103.4 points in July, up from 98.9 points in June, the Turkish Statistical Institute said in a report.

Improvement in retail trade, services and consumer confidence indices supported the monthly rise, according to TurkStat.

Among all sub-indices, retail trade confidence index advanced the most by 6.6 percent to 107.3 points.

The confidence in services saw an increase of 5 percent compared to the previous month, reaching 103.7 points.

The consumer confidence index also rose by 1.9 percent month-on-month to 71.3 points in July.

On the other hand, real sector and construction confidence indices decreased to 107.7 and 85.5 points, respectively, TurkStat added.

Sub-indices for real sector and construction were also down, slipping by 1 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, in the same period.