Growth, inflation data due this week

ISTANBUL

Authorities will release crucial economic data this week, including growth for the first quarter and inflation for May.

On May 31, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) will release the gross domestic product (GDP) figures for January-March.

The Turkish economy grew by 9.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021 from the same period of the previous year, accelerating from the 7.5 percent expansion recorded in July-September last year.

The GDP growth rates were 21.9 percent year-on-year in the second quarter and 7.3 percent year-on-year in the first three months of last year. In 2021, the country’s economy grew by 11 percent compared to the previous year.

The growth rate was only 1.8 percent in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit economies worldwide, hindering trade and global tourism activities.

Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati predicted earlier this month that the Turkish economy grew between 6 to 7 percent in the first quarter of 2022.

“Level of capacity utilization and other leading indicators show that domestic economic activity remains strong, with the help of more robust external demand even some regional differences emerge,” the Central Bank said last week in a statement it released after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting.

While the share of sustainable components of economic growth increases, risks to current account balance due to energy prices continue, warned the bank, which kept its policy rate - the one-week repo rate - unchanged at 14 percent.

Later in the week, on June 3, TÜİK will unveil the monthly and annual inflation data for May.

Consumer prices in Turkey increased by 7.25 percent in April. The annual consumer price inflation, consequently, quickened from 61.1 percent in March to 69.97 percent in May.

The Central Bank said in the statement last week that it expects the disinflation process to start on the back of strengthened measures for sustainable price and financial stability, along with the decline in inflation owing to the base effect and the resolution of the ongoing regional conflict.