Turkish Lira hits 9-month high as GDP growth rate announced at 5.1 percent

ANKARA/ISTANBUL

The Turkish currency continued its recovery against the U.S. dollar on Sept. 11, after the country’s official statistics authority announced soaring economic growth.      

The dollar/lira exchange rate dropped to 3.3986 at around 11 a.m. local time (08:00GMT), down from 3.4080 at Friday’s close, ahead of emerging market peers.

The rebound came shortly after the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) reported 5.1 percent economic growth for the second quarter of the year and an above 1.1 percent rise in the country’s benchmark stock index, the BIST 100.      

Turkey’s finance minister said tourism revenue growth and higher exports would help growth accelerate in the third quarter.

A dollar was exchanged for 3.51 lira on average last month, while the average during the first eight months was 3.61.      

According to Turkish Central Bank data, the dollar/lira rate was 3.02 on average last year and 2.71 on average in 2015, data compiled by state-run Anadolu Agency showed on Sept. 11.