ANKARA: Turkey's economy grew by 8.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2011, according to the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK) released on Monday.
It also said the economy grew by 8.9 percent in 2010, exceeding an official prediction of seven per cent growth.TUIK also revised its economic growth figures for the first quarter of 2011, from 11 per cent to 11.6 per cent.
Turkey, a country of about 73 million and the world's 17th largest economy, has shown one of the highest growth rates in the world.
Gross national product (GNP) per capita was $10,079 in 2010, compared with $8,590 in 2009.Experts said the 8.8 per cent second-quarter growth was better than expected.
“There were expectations for an average 6.8 per cent growth. This figure of 8.8 per cent shows Turkey has a dynamic structure”, Nihat Ergun, the science, industry and technology minister said, adding that an average seven per cent was expected overall in 2011.
The strong growth, however, widened the current account deficit which grew by 112.9 per cent over the first seven months of the year, compared to the same period of 2010, and reached $50.7 billion, the Central Bank said on Monday.
“We are not growing uncontrolled,” said Ergun. “The growth is based on the private sector. We tell people to spend in accordance with their income and not to raise debts beyond what they can repay.”
Turkey, which hopes to join the European Union and is also vying to take on a bigger role in the Middle East, emerged from dire economic problems nearly a decade ago with aid from the IMF, in return for deep structural reforms which are now bearing fruit.—AFP
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