EU Council raises Turkey's GDP growth forecast for 2019

ISTANBUL-Anadolu Agency

European Council's report, "Autumn 2019 Economic Forecast," on Nov. 7 raised its growth expectation for Turkey's GDP this year from minus 2.3 percent to 0.3 percent.

The report, of which previous version was released last Spring, also expected that the Turkish economy will grow 3.1 percent in 2020 and 3.5 percent in 2021.

Meanwhile, the report's previous 2020 forecast for GDP growth was 3.9 percent.

"The economy recovered faster than expected from last year's currency crisis, supported by a large fiscal stimulus and strong growth contribution of net exports," the report said.

The Turkish economy grew 7.4 percent in 2017 and 2.6 percent last year.

The country's new economic program, released at the end of this September, suggested a growth target of 0.5 percent this year, and 5 percent for the next three years.

The report also forecasted unemployment rate to drop to 13.7 percent this year, 13.3 percent next year and 12.9 percent in 2021.

Consumer Price Index -- also known as inflation rate -- is to stand at 15.3 percent in 2019, 10.3 percent in 2020 and 9.3 percent in 2021 according to the report's expectations.

The report's growth expectations were 1.4 percent for the EU, 1.1 percent for the eurozone, 1.7 percent for advanced economies, 3.9 percent for emerging and developing economies and 2.9 percent for the world economy in 2019.