Q4 2015 GDP: Robust but Vulnerable
At 4 percent, Turkey GDP’s growth rate remained robust despite a challenging year, primarily driven by strong private and public consumption, and higher gross fixed capital formation in the public sector. In 4Q 2015, the economy expanded by 5.7% y/y comparing favorably with consensus of 5%. That said, adjusted for seasonality and working-day effects, economic activity grew by 0.7% y/y, and note that there were more working days in Q4 2015 compared with Q4 2014.
The expenditure...
Bad Loans Soar at Turkish Banks
Bad loans in Turkey soared 3.6% m/m in January caused concerns rising around the asset quality in the financial sector. Even worse, annual change was 32.6% which was the highest figure recorded in six years. That being said, total NPLs in Turkish banking universe rose to TRY 49.2 billion which accounted for 3.18% of total loan portfolio of the sector with an increase of 9 basis points from December 2015. This was also the highest NPL ratio ever recorded since...