Turkey’s Economy Soars: 3.8% Growth Spurt in First Half of 2024 Defies Expectations
Turkey’s GDP Growth Rate Slows Down in Second Quarter of 2024
Turkey’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of the year (April-June period) increased by 2.5 percent compared to the same quarter last year, according to the official data by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).
The GDP growth rate was 5.3 percent in the first quarter of the year, marking an increase of 3.8 percent in the first half of the year, stated Mehmet Şimşek, Minister of Treasury and Finance.
The Research Center of the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK-AR) said that the quarterly GDP growth rate decreased from 7.6 percent in the second quarter of 2022 to 4.6 percent in the second quarter of 2023, and further to 2.5 percent in the second quarter of 2024.
The trade union underlined, “Economic policies that suppressed wages and purchasing power led to a serious slowdown in growth.”
“Parallel to the slowdown in growth, an increase in unemployment is very likely in the coming months,” added the union.
Industrial Sector Contracts in Second Quarter
According to TUİK data, the industrial sector, which is 23% of the country’s economy, contracted -1.8 percent in the second quarter of 2024. No reduction was observed in other sectors.
GDP increased by 78.6% and reached 9.95 trillion Turkish liras at current prices. GDP realized 308.16 billion dollars in the second quarter of 2024, according to the official statistics institute.
Minister Şimşek Comments on Growth Data
Commenting on the growth data, Minister Şimşek said, “We have left a difficult period behind where we have significantly reduced weaknesses. Growth began to stabilise, the current account deficit fell, the risk premium fell, foreign resource inflows increased, reserves improved and we entered a period of deflation.”
Independent Annual GDP Increases by 5.1% in 2023
In 2023, Turkey’s GDP grew by 5.1% compared to the previous year, as reported by TÜİK.
The GDP, measured by means of production, reached 26.5 trillion liras at current prices, marking an increase of 76.8% from the previous year.
The manufacturing industry had the largest share at 19.5%, followed by wholesale and retail trade, and transport and storage sectors.
The gross domestic product per capita was 311,109 Turkish lira (13,243 dollars) at current prices.