Nail Olpak, Chairman of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), noted that the growth figures for the third quarter of 2021, announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), showed an extremely positive performance in terms of economy.
In his written statement, Nail Olpak said, “In the third quarter of 2021, we see that there was a 7.4% increase in gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the same period of the previous year. Thus, the cumulative growth rate in the first 3 quarters was 12%. This positive picture reveals a very positive performance for the Turkish economy. After the second-quarter growth figures, we, as DEIK, stated that the year-end growth would be in the 9% band.”
“When we look at today’s table, I would like to state that we expect our year-end growth forecast at double digits, with a growth rate of 4% in the last quarter.” said Olpak and drew attention to the following:
“When we look at the sources of growth, we see that exports of goods and services made the highest contribution with a rate of 25.6%. Consumption expenditures and public expenditures, on the other hand, were the other two main drivers of growth with growth rates of 9.1 and 9.6%. The investments item, which has increased positively since the third quarter of 2020, has made a negative contribution for the first time in this quarter. When we look at the details, we see that machinery and equipment investments have increased, and the decrease in investments is mostly due to construction investments, but there is no problem in terms of our production and export potential.”
Making an assessment on a sectoral basis, Olpak said, “Due to the macro precautionary measures taken, we did not observe that the construction investments and the finance sector contributed negatively in the past periods. We hope that these two items will make a positive contribution in the coming periods. In this quarter, we do not observe negative contribution from agriculture and forestry sector. There is a view that the sharp contraction experienced in the tourism sector last year due to the effects of the pandemic partially recovered, that exports ended the contractionary effect of last year with the easing of the devastating effects of the epidemic at the global level, and that net foreign trade moved to the side that contributed positively to growth.”
“DOUBLE DIGIT GROWTH POSSIBLE OVER THE YEAR”
Recalling that the EU economy grew by 3.9% in the same period, Olpak said, “Turkey has become the fastest growing country among EU countries after Romania (8% growth). On the other hand, Turkey has become the fastest growing country among the G20 economies, leaving behind China. We are pleased that the third-quarter growth figure is in line with both our expectations and leading indicators. The industrial production index, which we follow as the most important leading indicator of growth, increased by 10.8% in this quarter. Again, we saw that there was a serious acceleration in foreign trade in the third quarter, and in this sense, the high share of exports in growth is extremely valuable.”
Stating that double-digit growth can be achieved throughout the year, Olpak concluded his words as follows:
“The uncertainty brought about by the fluctuations in the exchange rate and the decreases observed in some confidence indices will have a negative impact on the growth in these days when we are living in the last quarter, but still, when we consider the 12% growth in the first 3 quarters, it is possible to reach double-digit growth figures throughout the year. It is an important achievement for us to achieve such a strong growth performance in a period where the epidemic conditions continue and which is very difficult in terms of the world economy and global trade. Thank you to everyone who supported and contributed. As DEIK, we will continue to work day and night with our 148 Business Councils spread all over the world so that Turkey can grow and increase its share in global trade in the most qualified way.”
Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem Yildiz