Turkey's GDP grows 5.7% in 2015 Q4

The figure exceeded analyst consensus estimates of 3.8 per cent.

GDP in the fourth quarter of 2015 rose to 34.8 billion Turkish liras ($12.25 billion), which was up 5.7 per cent year-on-year, TurkStat said.

The Q4 performance pushed the overall annual GDP growth to 4 per cent, with cumulative GDP reaching 131.3 billion Turkish liras in constant prices ($46.2 billion), it added.

"With 4 per cent growth rate, Turkey is among top four fastest growing members in the G20 group, comprising the world's 20 major economies," Mehmet Simsek, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister in charge of the economy, said.

Analysts hailed the Q4 growth figure as a big plus for Turkey. 

"Turkish economy showed an improved performance in the fourth quarter; GDP growth rate surpassed the market expectation of 5 per cent and our expectation of 4.1 per cent," ALB Securities analyst Enver Erkan said.

He pointed out that the strongest contribution was from government expenditures, which grew by 6.7 per cent.

"Also, personal consumption showed 4.5 per cent growth rate. We expect a weaker performance, according to leading indicators of the first three months of 2016. But, we can expect a stronger performance again, with the help of stronger global recovery," he said.

"We closed 2015 with 4 per cent growth. This is a very good growth rate. Also, a recovery observed in investments is another positive development," Finansinvest chief economist Burak Kanli said.

"We believe domestic consumption shouldered growth in a year in which geopolitical tension surged and two elections were held,” economist Bora Tamer Yilmaz at Ziraat Securities told Anadolu Agency.

Halk Investment's economist Banu Kivci Tokali said positive signals from industrial production also reflected in the growth data.

"The fourth quarter of last year became the period in which economic activity came to the fore. Private and public sector consumption as well as public investments were base elements in growth,” Tokali said. (SH)

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