Turkish economic confidence hits 17-month high

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

Turkey's economic confidence index advanced to a 17-month high in December, according to official data on Dec. 30.

The figure hit 93.8 this month, while it was 95.1 in July last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) data showed.

Confidence in Turkey's economy climbed 2.6% month-on-month in December, TÜİK said.

The rise was driven by improvements in the construction, real sector, services, and retail trade confidence indices.

The sub-index for construction showed the best performance with surging 7.9% on a monthly basis.

It was followed by the real sector and services confidence indices with 2.6% and 2%, respectively.

Retail trade confidence index also rose 1.4% during the same period.

Consumer confidence index was the sole one that saw a deterioration this month, slipping 1.9% from last month.

"The economic confidence index is a composite index that encapsulates consumers' and producers' evaluations, expectations, and tendencies about the general economic situation," said the TÜİK statement.

The institute underlined that a total of 20 sub-indices are used in the calculation, with data collected in the first two weeks of each month.

A value above 100 shows an optimistic outlook for the general economic situation, while a value below 100, a pessimistic one.