Turkey’s industrial output grows at modest pace
The robust export performance that drove
Turkey's industrial output by picking up the slack for sluggish domestic demand hit a plateau in June.
While
Turkey's industrial
production index rose 0.3 percent month on month in June, from 132.7 to 133.2, data from
Turkey's State Institute of Statistics warn of a cooling in the country's industrial
production growth. Year-on-year figures show that industrial
production grew 1.6 percent in June; May on the other hand saw growth of 2.1 percent.
A major factor in the slowdown in the growth of industrial
production was that
manufacturing production growth remained 1.2 percent in June.
Booming export performance had been driving
production figures higher in the previous months as the domestic demand was cooling down. However, as the export figures approached $6 billion, the increase in
production began losing steam.
Economists expect industrial
production growth to continue losing momentum in the coming months due to high oil prices and the regression in the exchange rate.
After recording growth of 9.9 percent in 2004, industrial output is projected to grow only 5.0 percent in 2005.