Economy of Turkey

Turkey's current account balance posted a $3.84 billion deficit in December 2021, up $401 million year on year, according to data released by the Turkish Central Bank on Feb. 11.

The country's 12-month rolling deficit totaled $14.9 billion.

The gold- and energy-excluded current account posted a $2.27 billion surplus compared to a $700 million surplus in December 2020.

Turkey's calendar-adjusted industrial production soared 14.4 percent in December 2021 on a yearly basis, according to the latest data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) on Feb. 11.

Turkey's foreign trade gap was down 7.5 percent to $46.13 billion in 2021, compared to the previous year, according to official figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) on Jan. 31. 

Exports rose to $225.3 billion in 2021 with an increase of 32.8 percent, while its imports increased by 23.6 percent to $271.4 billion, TÜİK said.

The Turkish Central Bank on Jan. 27 revised its year end inflation forecast upwards for both 2022 and 2023 while keeping its medium-term target at 5 percent.

A total of 109,695 new companies were established in Turkey last year, according to a monthly report released by the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) on Jan. 21.

The number of newly established companies increased by 8.5 percent compared to 2020, the report showed.

Turkey aims at a "balanced" economic growth with an improvement in the inflation outlook, a statement said after the Economy Coordination Board meeting in Ankara on Jan. 18.

Several ministers and Turkish Central Bank Governor Şahap Kavcıoğlu attended the meeting chaired by Vice President Fuat Oktay.

Istanbul had the highest share of gross domestic product with 30.1 percent in 2020, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) announced on Dec. 9.

Istanbul was followed by the capital city Ankara (9.6 percent) and the Aegean province of İzmir (6.1 percent), it added.
The highest GDP per capita was estimated for Istanbul with 97,950 Turkish Liras in 2020.

International credit rating agecny Moody's has revised up its Turkey growth forecast for this year from 9.2 percent to 11 percent.

"Moody's expects that real GDP growth will slow to around 4 percent in 2022, compared to this year's extraordinary growth rate that Moody's estimates will come in at around 11 percent," Moody's said on Dec. 3.

Turkey's exports rose 33.4 percent to $21.5 billion in November, Trade Minister Mehmet Muş said at a news conference organized to announce the preliminary foreign trade figures in Ankara on Dec. 2. 

Turkish exports hit $221 billion in the last 12 months, while the figure reached $203.1 billion in the first 11 months of this year, he added.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has revised up its 2021 growth forecast for Turkey by 0.6 percentage points to 9 percent.

"In the absence of further shocks, GDP growth is projected to be 9 percent in 2021 before easing to 3.3 percent in 2022 and 3.9 percent in 2023," the OECD said in its Economic Outlook report released on Dec. 1.