-_-Moltres-_- Posted May 31, 2023 Posted May 31, 2023 Turkey’s economy expanded faster than expected at the start of the year, bolstered by pre-election spending and strong household consumption, as the outlook turns less favorable for the rest of 2023. Gross domestic product grew 4% year-on-year in the first quarter and 0.3% from the previous three months in seasonally and working-day adjusted terms, data from the state statistics agency showed on Wednesday. Analysts’ median forecasts were for a 3.5% annual gain and quarterly GDP growth of 0.5%. ultra-low interest rates helped ease the impact on the $900 billion economy of two massive earthquakes that hit southeast Turkey in February. But the outlook is darkening for the rest of 2023 as the newly re-elected president battles a cost-of-living crisis. Read more: World Tries to Read Erdogan for Signs of Turkey Policy Shift In Sunday’s presidential runoff, incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan defeated Kemal Kilicdaroglu to extend his rule into a third decade. The lira has plunged to record lows after the election, losing over 3% of its value against the dollar since then. It was trading more than 1% weaker after the GDP data release at 10:13 a.m. in Istanbul. “Turkey’s deadly earthquakes had made a dent in February’s output indicators. But indices imply the hit was temporary in major economic areas in the impact zone and was mostly compensated for in the overall figure.” Turkey was the fastest-growing economy among the Group of 20 nations last year after Saudi Arabia and India, expanding more than 5%. Erdogan’s administration fueled that expansion through cheap lending and heavily subsidized utility bills, as well as increases in the minimum wage and pensions. Those moves and ultra-loose monetary policy have come at the expense of currency and price stability, with inflation peaking near 86% last year. It’s decelerated but is still nearly 44%, more than anywhere in the G-20 except Argentina. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-31/turkish-economic-growth-accelerates-with-risk-of-slowdown-ahead#xj4y7vzkg
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