Turkish growth target may be revised down after failed coup, says deputy PM

ANKARA

Turkey’s official growth target of 4.5 percent this year could be revised downward in the medium-term economic program, mainly due to security concerns and the failed coup attempt of July 15, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek has said.

He also noted that the forecast for the current account gap could be increased.

“We will probably see the revisions in the targets which were defined in the medium-term economic program … After we made the program; we saw that global developments did not go in line with our prior expectations. A coup was attempted in Turkey. We have also seen the rise in regional problems and terror attacks,” he said Sept. 22 in a televised interview on NTV.

“We need to consider all of these developments … There may be some downward revisions in the growth target and upward revisions in the current account gap target,” said Şimşek.

“The coup attempt has injured Turkey’s perception abroad significantly. We need to improve this … In this vein, we will start a comprehensive reform program by the beginning of October,” he said.