Turkish economy grows 3.8 percent in second quarter

Türkiye's economy grew by a more-than-expected 3.8 percent in the second quarter of 2023 from a year ago, the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek hailed the latest growth numbers, saying that despite the tight global financial conditions and a contraction in global trade "our economy continued its strong growth performance in the second quarter, when we tried to compensate for the impacts of the earthquake disaster on the economy."

"We continue to take and implement measures aimed at reestablishing the balance between domestic and foreign demand," Şimşek said in a statement.

With the policies, which are transparent, consistent and in line with international norms, predictability will increase, he added.

"We started to see the positive effects of the policies we implement on the macro-financial stability. We will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure these effects become permanent," Şimşek said.

The growth in the quarter was largely driven by household consumption.

On a quarterly basis, the GDP increased by 3.5 percent which compared favorably with the 0.1 percent contraction recorded in the first quarter.

TÜİK revised downward the annual GDP growth in the first quarter from a previous 4 percent to 3.9 percent.

Households' final consumption, which accounted for 61.7 percent in GDP, increased by 15.6 percent in the second quarter of 2023 from a year ago, slowing from the 17.3 percent year-on-year increase in the first quarter.

Government final consumption expenditures, which grew by 6.1 percent in the January-March period annually, rose by 5.3 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier.

The annual increase in...