Survey expects 5.2% growth in Turkish economy in Q1

ISTANBUL

The Turkish economy is projected to have expanded 5.2% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020, an Anadolu Agency survey revealed Wednesday.

On Friday, the country's statistical authority TurkStat will release gross domestic product figures (GDP) for the January-March period this year.

A panel of 16 economists forecast an average of 5.2% growth year-on-year in the first quarter, hovering between 4.4% and 5.8%.

The economists also predicted that Turkey's annual GDP in 2020 would narrow 1.5% on average -- the highest at minus 0.9%, the lowest at minus 5%.

According to TurkStat, the country's economy grew 0.9% last year while it had expanded 7.4% in 2018.

Turkey reentered the road to growth in the third quarter of 2019 after three weak quarters.

The country's GDP expanded 6% in the last quarter of 2019, 0.9% in the third quarter after contracting 2.3% in the first quarter and 1.6% in the second on an annual basis.

*Tuba Sahin contributed to this report from Ankara.