Businessmen expect only 1.8 pct growth

Bloomberg

The forecast in the previous survey two weeks ago was for 2.7 percent growth next year, the Ankara-based bank said on its Web site yesterday. The economy will expand 2.7 percent this year, according to the survey, from a previous forecast of 3.3 percent.

The government budget for 2009 assumes growth of 4 percent next year. The economy expanded an annual 1.9 percent in the second quarter, the slowest pace in more than six years. The inflation rate will probably be 8.95 percent in 12 months, down from a forecast of 9.01 percent two weeks earlier, the survey showed. The estimate for inflation in 24 months was 7.49 percent, compared with 7.54 percent two weeks earlier.