Economic morale in Turkey drops to lowest in decade

ANKARA

Turkey’s economic morale index dropped 4.8 percent in October, according to a statement by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) on Oct. 31.

The economic confidence index, which was 71 in September, decreased to 67.5, according to the statement.

This is the lowest figure since January 2009, according to TÜİK data.

The index indicates an optimistic outlook on the general economic situation when it is above 100, or a pessimistic outlook when it is below 100.

“This decrease in economic confidence index stemmed from the decreases in consumer, services and retail trade confidence indices,” TÜİK said.

Consumer confidence index decreased 3.4 percent to 57.3 compared with the previous month. It had plunged 13.2 percent in September.

The services confidence index, which had seen a decrease of 9.7 percent in September, continued to decline by 4.7 percent to 75.7.

The retail trade confidence index also dropped by 1.8 percent.

On the other hand, real sector and construction confidence indices increased to 91.1 and 58.7, respectively. The real sector confidence index rose 0.8 on a monthly basis. Construction confidence, which plunged 16.7 percent in September, recovered slightly with a 2.3 increase in October.

Confidence in Turkey’s economy had marked its biggest ebb in a decade in September with a 15.4 percent slump.