Turkish economy faces grim outlook for 2019
THE OECD forecasts that the Turkish economy, after contracting this year, should grow again next year; Erdogan goes after former presidential candidate Meral Aksener.
ANKARA, Turkey — The Turkish economy will contract by as much as 1.8% this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has forecast.
The prediction came in a week that saw opposition newspapers deploring the soaring cost of vegetables, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s blaming the price rises on speculators whom he likened to “terrorists” and opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s scoffing at Turkey’s having to import onions from Egypt.
“Growth prospects remain weak in Turkey,” the OECD said in its Interim Economic Outlook. “Financial markets have stabilised and external competitiveness has improved, but weak confidence, high corporate-debt service burdens, tight monetary policy and soft demand in euro-area markets still weigh on domestic and external demand.”
The silver lining of the March 6 report is that the OECD predicts the contraction will be short. It expects Turkey’s economy to grow by as much as 3.2% in 2020.
