The Turkish Central Bank on Monday announced that capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector showed a nascent recovery of 0.2 percent in January over the preceding month. The bank has recently undertaken the preparation of the report, which used to be announced by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat).
As regards the sub-sectors, the highest increase in capacity utilization was in the intermediary products group, with 8.8 percent in January over the same month of 2009. The manufacture of capital goods followed with a 5.5 percent increase in the same period.
The backbone of the Turkish economy, the manufacturing sector, experienced the first year-on-year increase in December following an 11-month freefall amid the global financial downturn. According to data released by TurkStat for December, capacity utilization increased by 5 percent in December 2009 over the same month of 2008, experiencing the first year-on-year increase in 2009. Capacity utilization, which fell as low as 63.8 percent in the beginning of 2009, was 69.7 percent in December, a 5 percent increase from the 64.7 percent of December 2008.
Figure encouraging for us, minister says
Commenting on the latest figures, Industry and Trade Minister Nihat Ergün on Tuesday said the indices demonstrated that the Turkish economy would maintain stable growth in 2010. Ergün recalled that heavy drops in the production and export sectors dealt a major blow to the country’s economy during the 2009 crisis. Ergün said the government expected 2010 to be the beginning of a fast and steady rejuvenation in the market.
The minister said they were maintaining their hope for a leap forward in the Turkish economy in the long run. Ergün said the international rating agencies had also demonstrated their faith in the Turkish economy with recent upgrades in the country’s rating. Recalling that the government’s Medium-term Economic Plan foresees around 4 to 5 percent growth in the Turkish economy in 2010 over the past year, he noted that recent reports encouraged the government to believe this target could even be surpassed.
