LONDON
Turkey’s economic data for the first six months of the year remains strong, said international ratings agency Fitch, a day after Turkish Prime Minister won the country's first directly elected presidential poll.
Gergely Kiss, Director of Fitch's Sovereign team, said on Monday that macroeconomic outcomes in 2014 have been broadly positive for Turkey's credit profile, with the lira stabilizing and international reserves rebounding.
"Export growth was strong, the current account deficit corrected and credit growth slowed, in both cases more quickly than expected," the agency said.
Responding to a question from Anadolu Agency, Kiss said: “We will be watching Turkey’s 2015 election developments.
"Fitch's last assessment for Turkey was in February of this year and the next one will be on October 3."
Turkish policy 'decisive'
"In our review, it will be directly to do with political developments. We will also be looking to geopolitical developments,” he added.
Kiss also said that the agency would also be monitoring how the advanced economy's monetary policies would affect emerging countries.
"Turkey’s monetary policy will be decisive," he said.
International Ratings Agency Fitch claimed on Monday that the presidential vote did little to ameliorate the political risk to Turkey's sovereign credit profile after Turkey´s presidential election, which was won outright by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan was elected on Sunday after securing 51.96 percent of the vote in the first round of Turkey's first popular presidential election, according to unofficial counts.
Regional conflicts
Meanwhile TurkStat, the country's statistics authority, reported Turkey's exports had increased by 7.3 percent to $80 billion in the first half of 2014 while imports were at $105 billion in the first five months of the year.
Turkish exports were negatively affected by regional conflicts in Iraq and Ukraine, according to a survey by the Turkish Exporters Assembly.
Following the insurgency in Iraq, Turkey's exports to the country fell by 46 percent in July, according to the assembly's figures.
Turkey now heads towards general elections in June, 2015, to elect 550 members of Parliament.
www.aa.com.tr/en
