Economic Update: 1Q15 GDP & April Current Account
Turkey GDP grew by more than expected (2.3% versus 1.6%) in the first three months of 2015, data from Turkstats showed on Wednesday. Despite the fact that the reported figure signaled a below par growth in the country, we saw the pressure on Turkish assets easing for a while following the economic data. However, a rethinking about the country’s growth regime is needed given that for the last thirteen quarters it has been posting growth numbers...
The Outlook of Foreign Direct Investment
Turkey is running a large current account deficit and is a big borrower from abroad as the deficit roughly accounts for 6% of the country’s total GDP and short-term foreign debt stock hits $130 billion. Under such circumstances foreign capital would suppress the rising concerns around the country’s debt. However, Turkey seems to be less attractive to consistently high foreign direct investments leaving the country less able to deal with the stress on its financial system.
The...
The Behavior of Current Account in Turkey
Turkey today posted better than expected current account deficit after naming the deficit as the second most important economic challenge after inflation in its Medium Term Plan. According to the posted official figures the deficit in August was $2.77 billion which is well below the market consensus of $3.2 billion. The country’s deficit for the January-August period also dropped by $16.2 billion to $29.5 billion. Leading economists covering Turkey expect the total deficit to hit $45 billion at...