MÜSİAD President Abdurrahman Kaan made a written assessment of the third-quarter growth figures announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute. Kaan stated the following:

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) announced the gross domestic product (GDP) results for the third quarter of the year (July-September).

Growth, which was expected by the market to be 1% in the third quarter, grew by 0.9%, in line with expectations. This confirmed signs of a bottoming-out in the economic recovery.

The Turkish economy responded strongly to the currency crisis experienced in August 2018, and leading data suggests that it will finish 2019 with significant signs of recovery.

When looking at the main components of growth on an annual basis by sector, in addition to the construction sector, the agricultural sector, industrial sector, services sector, and public expenditures drove growth.

In the construction sector, the Central Bank's continued interest rate cuts and the stable Turkish Lira; The sector continues to stimulate by loosening credit channels. In addition, sector players are organizing housing sales campaigns to increase interest in housing sales. In summary, the sector is expected to achieve positive growth in the last quarter of 2019. Thus, it is possible that the negative sentiment of 2019 could end in a positive position, almost reaching the 0-1% range as the year-end data.

The ISO Manufacturing data released at the same time was in line with expectations at 49.5%, compared to 49.0% previously.

In summary, the recovery in economic activity is confirmed by the latest GDP growth data release. The recovery in industrial production and the construction sector is expected to continue at an accelerating pace in the coming months. Continuing interest rate cuts and macroprudential policies from the Central Bank, which will contribute to the economic recovery, could boost growth in the last quarter and enable the recovery to materialize faster than expected.