Türkiye's economy grows 4% in Q1

ANKARA

Türkiye's economy rose 4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, beating the market forecast, according to data released on Wednesday.

Economists had expected Türkiye's GDP growth to be 3% on an annual basis in January-March.

Commenting on the data, Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said Türkiye posted the second-largest annual growth rate among both the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and EU member states with available data.

Ireland was the fastest-growing country in the first quarter with 6.4%, followed by Türkiye, Israel, and Costa Rica, all with 4% in three months to March.

The GDP in the OECD region increased by 1.5% in the first quarter of this year and in the EU27 by 1.2%.

Türkiye ranked third among G20 countries, based on available data, while Indonesia registered the largest growth rate in January-March with 5.03%, followed by China with 4.5%.

The main reading followed a 3.5% annual growth in the final quarter of 2022.

Meanwhile, the GDP at current prices increased 84.4% to reach 4.63 trillion Turkish liras ($245.46 billion), TurkStat data showed.

On a quarterly basis, the Turkish economy grew 0.3% in the January-March period, slowing from 0.9% in October-December 2022.

Value added increased the most among the services -- wholesale and retail trade, transport, storage, accommodation, and food service activities -- constituting a gross domestic product of 12.4% from a year ago in the first quarter.

The figures rose 5.1% in the construction sector, but decreased 0.7% in industry and 3.8% in agriculture, forestry, and fishing during the same period.

Government final consumption expenditure grew 5.3%, while gross fixed capital formation climbed 4.9% in the first quarter of 2022 compared with the same quarter of last year.

The final consumption expenditures of resident households gained 16.2% in the same period, TurkStat said.