Turkey suffers a slowdown in growth at the start of the year
TURKEY’S annual economic growth slowed at the start of the year, according to figures released yesterday by the Turkish Statistics Institute.
The Turkish economy expanded by 2.3 per cent from January to March compared with the same period last year. The emerging economy has seen growth slow its heady heights of over four per cent that it saw in early 2014.
Worsening economic growth was one of the reasons the Justice and Development Party (AKP) failed to retain its majority in last weekends elections, the first time it has failed to do so since 2002.
Not only is growth stalling, but unemployment has surpassed 11 per cent this year while inflation has surged above eight per cent.
Inflation has been bolstered by a fall in the country’s currency, the lira, which hit a record low against the dollar earlier this week. The Borsa Istanbul, an basket of shares of Turkey’s top 100 companies, climbed two per cent yesterday, partially recouping its value after plummeting following the election result.
The AKP party now has 42 days to form a government.