19 October 2017•Update: 20 October 2017
By Dilara Zengin and Tuba Sahin
ANKARA
The World Bank raised Turkey's economic growth forecast for the year, according to a Migration and Mobility report published on Thursday.
Economic growth in Turkey is projected to grow 4 percent in 2017, up from the bank's previous estimate of 3.6 percent since April.
"Turkey showed remarkably strong GDP growth after the global financial crisis, largely because of effective fiscal stimulus," the World Bank said.
"The country performed a strengthening growth in the first half of 2017 that leads to higher expected growth than in other parts of the Europe and Central Asia region," it added.
The bank also revised Turkey's growth forecast for 2018 to 3.5 percent, down from 3.9 percent.
The upgrade came after the International Monetary Fund upgraded its 2017 growth forecast for Turkey by 2.6 percentage points in a report released on Oct. 10. The IMF forecasted Turkey to grow by 5.1 percent, up 2.6 percentage points compared to a previous forecast of 2.5 percent.
The World Bank expects that temporary fiscal stimulus along with credit facilitation will support private and public consumption in Turkey this year.
Exports, which contributes substantially to the country's GDP growth, are likely to grow in 2017 fueled by rising external demand and an increase in competitiveness, it said.
rate, on the other hand, is expected to remain above target, according to the World Bank.
Turkish government aims to reach 5 percent inflation in 2020, down from 8.5 percent in 2016, while the rate is predicted to be at 9.5 percent by the end of 2017, in accordance with the country's medium-term program announced on Sept. 27.
The World Bank also projected that Turkey would grow 4 percent in 2019 as the economic outlook improved and political uncertainty eased.
"Provided structural reforms continue to be implemented and investor confidence resumes, private investment is expected to gradually pick up in the medium-term," the bank said.
It added that most European and Central Asian economies showed rapid growth than previous expectations, reflecting a strengthening of growth in industrial production and exports in recent months.
"Economic growth in Europe and Central Asia is set to reach 2.2 percent in 2017, the strongest growth in six years and 0.3 percentage point faster than estimated in May 2017," the bank said.
