Turkey’s industrial production grew faster than expected on an annual basis to record a double-digit increase in May, official data showed on Tuesday, mainly due to a sharp slowdown in the same month last year caused by the initial lockdown measures.
The calendar-adjusted industrial production index rose 40.7% in May, largely due to what is known as the base effect, according to data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat ). Monthly production increased 1.3%.
The index rose 16.6% in March and 66% in April, according to the data.
Many Turkish factories went out of business last March, shortly after the first COVID-19 infection was recorded.
The production index took its rise for an 11th consecutive month, with production falling 31.4% in April and 19.9% in May before the recovery began in June.
Turkey had imposed new virus-related lockdowns after a strong economic rebound in the second half of 2020, but the measures did not affect production.
An Anadolu Agency (AA) survey last week expected a 38.2% year-over-year increase.
The improvement with the base effect was mainly supported by the manufacturing sub-index, according to the data.
The manufacturing index climbed 42.8% year-on-year during the month, while the mining and quarrying index climbed 33.4%.
The electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply index also climbed 20.9% during the same period.
Turkey’s economy grew 1.8% in 2020, one of the few in the world to avoid a pandemic contraction thanks to a credit boom led by state lenders in the middle of the year.
It rebounded strongly, by 7%, in the first quarter of this year and the government is seeing it increase by about 20% in the second.
The government is forecasting 5.8% growth this year, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said it could be even higher.
The final step in the country’s gradual normalization process began this month, with the lifting of curfews and closures, as well as the opening of all sites and businesses without restrictions.
The outlook for a good performance in the second half of the year was revived by a sharp drop in daily cases of coronavirus as well as an acceleration of vaccinations.
Analysts said domestic demand is likely to rebound further in the third quarter as restrictions on the pandemic are eased.
Exports are also expected to be boosted by the recovery in Turkey’s trading partners.
