Turkish Govt's Q1 Growth Expectation At 1.5 Percent, Econ Min Says

- Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci has said, on Thursday, Turkish economic growth in the first quarter was expected to be at 1.5 percent, lower than the government's target.

"We expect the economic growth in the first quarter of 2015 at 1.5 percent level. There is a possibility of a slightly higher growth; but, not more" he told journalists at a meetinf in Istanbul.

Zeybekci also said he expected a recovery in economic growth beginning in the second quarter. “We cannot say 2014 ended in line with our foreign trade and growth targets, but we expect to see the announced growth rate for 2014 at 2.8-3 percent despite all fall backs” he added.

In the medium-term economic program, the 2014 growth target had been set at 4 percent, but was later changed to 3.3 percent due to global economic uncertainties.

“If there had been any positive contribution to the export economy, the GDP would have grown at around zero. We didn’t see any contributions to domestic market growth” he said, adding the government expected a revival in the domestic market in 2015.

“We also expect a rise in exports, thus contributing positively to growth rates by the end of March. We won’t expect the growth rates to be at desired levels for the first quarter of the year, but we also will not be negative in the first quarter of 2015. We expect a recovery in the GDP growth in the coming months” he said.

“In the expected growth rates, the planned measures of the government and a recovery in the employment rate will play a great role. The recent slow-down in the Turkish economy will end by the second half of 2015” he said.