Turkish industrial production edges up in March

ANKARA

Turkish industrial production expanded at a rate of 2.9 percent in March from previous year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported on Monday.

The reading showed a positive outlook for the economy with two of three main sub-sectors seeing sharp advances compared to same month of the previous year.

Manufacturing index drove the reading higher with a 3.4 percent increase while the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply index also advanced by 2.6 percent, keeping pace with manufacturing index according to report.

On the other hand, the mining and quarrying index saw a sharp decline year-on-year, suggesting a persistently weak performance for the sector in Turkey.

On a monthly basis Turkish industrial production was slightly down, 0.5 percent in March 2016 from the previous month as all sub-sectors of the reading saw declines.

“The mining and quarrying index decreased by 3.2 percent, the manufacturing index decreased by 0.4 percent and the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply index decreased by 0.2 percent in March 2016, compared with the previous month,” the report read.