Turkish Economy Out of Recession with 6% Growth

Turkish GDP grew 6% year on year in the final quarter of 2009, this was Turkey's first quarter of positive growth in 5 quarters, and brought it out of recession with a bang. The growth could have been predicted, after it was revealed that Turkish industrial production was 12.1% higher in January this year compared to last year.

It is hardly a coincidence that such a magnificent return to growth was followed in subsequent months, by the breakdown of talks between Turkey and the International Monetary Fund, aimed at agreeing a standby deal for Turkey. Talks between the IMF and Turkey started when the last standby agreement ended in May 2008.

Fair play to Turkey, it held firm on the basis that it could make up its own economic mind; refusing to adopt the IMF's fiscal guidelines, and now this decision, well, decisions have been vindicated.

Many European and global economies have had strong quarterly growths, before falling back into flat or even negative growth in subsequent quarters, but this will not happen to Turkey, according to Julian Walker, director of Turkish property agent Spot Blue, he said:

"Turkey has had a hard time of it during the financial crisis, with a massive drop in exports, which was partly responsible for a massive drop in output, and that in turn brought unemployment up, fuelling the cycle. However, the banking system had reformed in the crisis of early 2000, so the banking system was resilient and liquidity remained.

"Now, Turkey is growing again, we have a strong year of tourism to come, with bookings up 29% on last year in Antalya alone, exports are on the way back up and output is growing rapidly. It can only be a matter of time before unemployment starts to come down again. Far from a return to negative growth, 3-5% should become the norm for quarterly growth in the next 2 quarters at least."

Spot Blue is currently marketing property in Turkey priced from as little as £25,000.

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