Confidence in economy improves again in November

ANKARA

Turkey’s economic confidence index climbed to 91.3 in November, according to data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK).

The figure rose 1.7 percent from 89.8 in October, TÜİK said.

Improvement in consumer, real sector and services sector confidence indices led to the rise in economic confidence, it added.

“Consumer, real sector and services confidence indices increased to 59.9, 105.9 and 91.3 respectively in November,” the statistics authority noted.

Commenting on the latest data, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said, “The steady increases in confidence indices clearly show that economic recovery continues and gains traction.”

“If capacity utilization [in manufacturing] and consumption maintain their momentum, the economic growth may come in at 4 percent or 5 percent in the final quarter of 2019,” Albayrak said at a gathering with businesspeople in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.

The manufacturing sector’s capacity usage hit a 12-month high of 77.2 percent while auto sales jumped 138 percent on an annual basis in October and white goods sales jumped 26 percent, the minister noted.

“We will continue to support investments which boost production, exports and job creation. We are also seeing signs of strong recovery on the employment front.”

As normalcy has returned to the financial markets, the country has entered a period where pent-up demand and investments have been released, according to the minister.

Albayrak reiterated that thanks to the confidence-building measures the government has taken the Turkish economy will post a positive growth in 2019.

“All those indicators suggest that we will easily meet the targets set for 2020,” he said.

The government’s growth projection for next year is 5 percent while its inflation forecasts for 2019 and 2020 are 12 percent and 8.5 percent, respectively.

In its latest edition of the economic program, released in September, the government also said it targets 5 percent growth both for 2021 and 2022.

The economic program projects 0.5 percent of economic growth for 2019.

TÜİK also said retail trade and construction confidence indices dropped to 101.2 and 63.9 respectively in November.

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

In 2018, the index saw its highest value in January at 105.2 points, as the lowest figure was recorded at 75.2 points in November.