Turkey aims to close a financing deal with the International Monetary Fund at the start of January, the government confirmed on Monday, as the weakest quarterly growth in six years prompted analysts to forecast a technical recession.
Gross domestic product in the third quarter of 2008 grew just 0.5 per cent from the same quarter of 2007, official data showed, down from 2.3 per cent in the second quarter. That took year-on-year growth for the first nine months of 2008 to 3 per cent – less than half the previous five-year average.
Separate data showed unemployment hit double-digit figures in September, reaching 10.3 per cent compared with 9.3 per cent in the same month of 2007.
The figures belie ministers’ repeated assertion that Turkey will suffer only mild effects from the global crisis and underline the urgency of sealing an agreement with the IMF on a financing package. Investors are hoping Turkey will secure $20bn (€14bn, £13bn) of funding to help plug its financing gap.
“Today’s grim data will remind the authorities just how exposed the country is to the global credit crunch,” said Neil Shearing, at Capital Economics in London.
Gross domestic product in the third quarter of 2008 grew just 0.5 per cent from the same quarter of 2007, official data showed, down from 2.3 per cent in the second quarter. That took year-on-year growth for the first nine months of 2008 to 3 per cent – less than half the previous five-year average.
Separate data showed unemployment hit double-digit figures in September, reaching 10.3 per cent compared with 9.3 per cent in the same month of 2007.
The figures belie ministers’ repeated assertion that Turkey will suffer only mild effects from the global crisis and underline the urgency of sealing an agreement with the IMF on a financing package. Investors are hoping Turkey will secure $20bn (€14bn, £13bn) of funding to help plug its financing gap.
“Today’s grim data will remind the authorities just how exposed the country is to the global credit crunch,” said Neil Shearing, at Capital Economics in London.
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