Turkey on road to recovery with 34 pct spike in exports

Turkey gave yet another sign of strong growth out the world economic crisis with a 34 percent year-on-year rise in exports in March, according to figures released by the Turkish Exporters Association (TIM) yesterday. The figures arrived hot on the heels of fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth figures from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) which showed that the economy grew by 6 percent in the last quarter of 2009 – much more than the expected 3.5 percent. The economy shrank in 2009 by 4.7 percent, a better figure than the expected 6 percent downturn in the Medium-term Economic Program. The new figures indicate that exports are continuing to propel Turkey's exit from the crisis and are accelerating, rising $9.6 billion year-on-year, with total growth of 22.3 percent in the first three months of the year and 16.4 percent growth compared to February exports. Speaking at a meeting of the Kahramanmaras Chambers of Industry and Trade, along with TIM head Mehmet Buyukeksi, State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan stated that the figures are no "April Fool's joke" and that Turkey has returned to its pre-crisis export levels. Caglayan also said government incentives and stimulus programs had helped bring Turkey's exports to new heights during difficult times. On expectations of growth for the first quarter, both Caglayan and Buyukeksi stated that Turkey would reach double-digit GDP growth. "We're seeing the signs that this will happen," Caglayan said. "Today's export figures are the biggest sign of this." On the lack of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal, Caglayan said, "Turkey has come to a point where it no longer needs IMF accreditation. ... Only eight years ago we would go knocking on the IMF's door for only a $1 billion loan. But now this all seems like ages ago."