TurkStat: Turkey's economy grew by 1.8 percent in 2020

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Turkey's economy expanded 1.8 percent year-on-year in 2020 the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced today (March 1).

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices stood at 5.1 trillion Turkish lira (717.1 billion USD) last year, according to the TurkStat figures. Last year's GDP was 760 billion dollars.

In the last quarter of 2020, the economy posted an annual growth rate of 5.9 percent, TurkStat data showed. It also revealed that seasonally and calendar-adjusted GDP increased 1.7 percent compared to the previous quarter.

Performance in the last quarter pushed up cumulative GDP at current prices by 16.8 percent from the previous year.

The economy registered a growth of 6.3 percent in the third quarter of last year after a contraction of 10.3 percent in the second quarter as the coronavirus' impact started to be felt in earnest. Turkey's GDP expanded 4.5 percent in the first quarter.

The US dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was around 7 on average in 2020.

Turkey's new economic program, announced last September, expected the Turkish economy to grow 0.3 percent last year.

In 2019, the country's growth rate was 0.9 percent.

The value-added in 2020 rose 4.8 percent in the agricultural sector and 2 percent in the industry sector from a year earlier.

It fell 4.3 percent in the services sector -- wholesale and retail trade, transport, storage, accommodation, and food service activities -- and 3.5 percent in the construction sector, as the two were hit hard by the pandemic. (HA/VK)