Turkish Economy Grows More-Than-Expected 8.2%
Turkey’s economy grew a faster-than- expected 8.2 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, as central bank efforts to squeeze credit growth failed to damp the expansion.
Growth slowed from 8.8 percent in the second quarter, the statistics office in Ankara said on its website today. The economy was expected to grow 6.3 percent, according to the median estimate of nine economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
“The Turkish economy continues to show Asian-style growth dynamics,” Tim Ash, chief of emerging-market research at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, said in an e-mailed report to clients. “There is very little convincing evidence that the central bank and government measures thus far are engineering much of a slowdown.’
The central bank has been increasing reserve requirements for lenders, saying credit expansion needs to slow to an annual 25 percent from about 40 percent earlier this year. The bank has also warned that the debt crisis in Europe, which buys about half of Turkey’s exports, poses a risk to growth. So far industrial production has held up, expanding at an average of 6.5 percent annually in the third quarter compared with 7 percent in the second, though consumer confidence declined in the period.
Bond Yields Rise
Yields on two-year benchmark bonds rose two basis points to 10.33 percent at 10:45 a.m. in Istanbul. The lira and stocks pared earlier losses. The main ISE National 100 (XU100) share index fell 0.5 percent to 53,587.91 after sliding as much as 0.7 percent. The currency declined 0.3 percent to 1.8475 per dollar.
The economy expanded 1.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous three months, the statistics agency said. Annual growth adjusted for working days was 7.7 percent in the third quarter compared with 8.3 percent in the second.
There will “probably be a further slowdown over the coming few quarters, as final domestic demand loses further momentum and inventory levels pick up,” Goldman Sachs economists including Ahmet Akarli in London said in an e-mailed report before today’s figures were released.
To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Bentley in Istanbul at Mbentley3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.
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