Automotive Exports December 2019

Turkish economy to record positive growth
by year-end, Albayrak says
The Turkish economy will close this
year with positive growth figures,
Treasury and Finance Minister
Berat Albayrak said, in reference to
improvement in macroeconomic trends
and rising economic confidence.
During a meeting with businesspeople
titled “Change is Beginning,” held
in the eastern Anatolian province of
Malatya, Albayrak underscored the
falling inflation, interest rates and
risk premiums as well as increasing
economic confidence and modest
improvement in industrial production.
The minister’s estimates have recently
been corroborated by the latest report
of the International Monetary Fund
(IMF). The report said last month that
the Turkish economy may see a growth
of 0.25%, reversing previous forecasts
of a 2.5% contraction.
Following the release of the secondquarter
data, experts also predicted
that the economy will register positive
growth in the third quarter. Turkey’s
economy shrank by 1.5% in the April-
June period, compared to the same
period last year. In the first quarter, the
revised data of the Turkish Statistical
Institute (TurkStat) revealed that the
economy shrank by 2.4%.
In reference to the positive trends in the
Turkish economy, Albayrak recalled,
“The $5.1 billion surplus in the current
account was a record in the history of
the Turkish Republic.” The drastic fall
in the current account surplus came
as a result of falling imports and a
set of measures by the government,
alleviating the burden of external
financing.
The annualized deficit climbed to $57.9
billion in May 2018 before it kicked
off a dramatic decline along with the
rebalancing period in the Turkish
economy that started after Albayrak
announced the new economic program
(NEP) in September last year. Measures
taken within this scope led to narrowing
in the foreign trade deficit, while a high
increase was observed in the rate of
exports meeting imports.
The new economic program unveiled in
December 2019
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