World Bank report sees limited growth

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

TUSİAD Chairman Yılmaz says they are optimistic about Turkish economy. DHA Photo

The economic growth in European and Central Asian countries, including Turkey, is projected to rebound to 3.6 percent in 2013 and 4 percent in 2014 and 4.3 percent by 2015, the World Bank has stated in a recent report.

The Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) held a meeting in Istanbul for the director of the World Bank Development Prospects Group, Hans Timmer, to present the recent “Global Economic Prospects” report of the organization. The chairman of TÜSİAD, Muharrem Yılmaz, said they had an optimistic outlook for the Turkish economy, which they expected to have growth of 6.1 percent in 2013.

However according to the World Bank’s recent report, growth in the entire European and Central Asian region was expected to be limited in 2013, Timmer said.

Timmer said the gross domestic product growth in Europe and Central Asia was estimated to have slowed sharply to 3 percent in 2012, from 5.5 percent in 2011, as the region faced significant headwinds, including weak external demand, deleveraging by European banks, summer drought and commodity-price-induced inflationary pressures.

Eurozone slows down

Growth slowed most in countries with strong linkages to the euro area, Timmer said.

Timmer said several countries in the region including Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Romania were forecasted to grow by less than 1 percent in 2012. “After two years of unsustainably high growth, Turkey had a soft landing from 8.6 percent in 2011 to 2.9 percent in 2012.”

“Medium-term prospects for the region depend critically on progress in addressing external and domestic imbalances, lack of competitiveness and structural constraints,” the report stated.

The World Bank report also forecasted growth of 2.4 percent for the global economy in 2013, from 2.3 percent in 2012.