Turkey posts record 21% economic growth in Q2

Turkish economy has expanded 21.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2021–– it's highest annual growth rate since 1999.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices increased 52.4 percent to $188.6 billion (1.6 trillion Turkish liras) in the April-June period, Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported on Wednesday.

Among the activities constituting GDP, the value added rose 45.8 percent in services and 40.5 percent in the industry, while financial and insurance activities decreased 22.7 percent during the same period.

Moody's upgrades growth 

Major economic indicators show economic activity rebounded with the economic confidence index jumping to 97.8 in June from 92.6 the previous month.

Last month, Turkish exports hit $16.4 billion, rising 10.2 percent year-on-year, while imports jumped 16.8 percent to $20.7 billion.

On Tuesday, international credit rating agency Moody's upgraded Turkey's economic growth forecast for 2021 from 5 percent to 6 percent.

It noted that a recovery in the tourism sector supported the growth in the Turkish economy, thanks to the ongoing global economic recovery and progress in the Covid-19 vaccination.

The country posted a 7 percent growth year-on-year in the first quarter while the global economy is still suffering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Manufacturing activity 

The upturn in the Turkish manufacturing sector has also continued with a headline figure hovering above the threshold level for the third consecutive month in August.

Turkey's Purchasing Managers' Index (or PMI) for the manufacturing sector read 54.1 in August, slightly up from 54.0 a month ago, IHS Markit's monthly report prepared in collaboration with the Istanbul Chamber of Industry showed on Wednesday.

The August figure was its highest level since January.

Increasing customer demand 

The monthly rise is owed to improving customer demand and the recent loosening of Covid-19 restrictions which "meant that new orders continued to rise solidly during August," it said.

New export business increased sharply in the month, helping to boost output in some cases, the report noted.

In order to keep on top of workloads, firms expanded their purchasing activity and employment significantly, it stressed, adding the rise in employment was the fastest since January.

It underlined that ongoing supply-chain disruption contributed to further increases in input costs and selling prices.

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