Turkey's economy grows 0.9 percent in 2019

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Turkey's economy posted a growth rate of 0.9 percent in 2019, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices stood at 4.28 trillion Turkish liras (some $755 billion) last year, TÜİK said.

The data showed that GDP per capita reached 51,834 Turkish liras ($9,127) in 2019 at current prices.

On a sectoral basis, the value added by the agricultural sector rose 3.3 percent in 2019, compared to 2018.

The services and industrial sectors enjoyed annual rises of 1.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively, while the construction sector dropped 8.6 percent.

A panel of 17 economists polled by Anadolu Agency on Feb. 27 expected Turkey's 2019 economic growth rate to be 0.6 percent.

TÜİK data showed that in the last quarter of the year the economy expanded 6 percent year-on-year.

GDP was 1.2 trillion Turkish liras ($205.7 billion) in the fourth quarter, it said.

Economists' forecast for the last quarter of 2019 was 5.1 percent on average, with the lowest at 4.2 percent and the highest at 6.1 percent.

The Turkish economy grew 7.4 percent in 2018, while it narrowed 2.8 percent in the last quarter of the same year.

Turkey re-entered the road to growth in the third quarter of 2019 after three weak quarters.

The country's GDP expanded 0.9 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of last year after contracting 2.3 percent in the first quarter and 1.6 percent in the second, on an annual basis.

The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 5.68 on average in 2019.

Turkey's New Economic Program, announced last September, targets growth of 0.5 percent in 2019 and 5 percent in the following three years.