Bloomberg.com: Turkish GDP Growth Probably Accelerated to 7% in Second Quarter with European Union taking half of Turkey's exports- by Steve Bryant

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Turkish GDP Growth Probably Accelerated to 7% in Second Quarter with European Union taking half of Turkey's exports - by Steve Bryant

Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Turkey's economic expansion probably accelerated in the second quarter as a weaker lira and faster growth in Europe boosted exports, a survey of economists shows. The economy grew an annual 7 percent, compared with 6.4 percent in the previous quarter, according to the median estimate of eight economists in a Bloomberg survey. The Ankara-based statistics office will release the report at 10 a.m. on Sept. 11. Export rose at their fastest pace in 15 months in June, helping the economy expand for an 18th consecutive quarter in the April-June period. Still, the drop in the lira in May that boosted exports also led the central bank to raise its benchmark interest rate three times, threatening to damp domestic demand. The ``figures will still show an economy that is buoyant,'' said Inan Demir, an economist for Finansbank in Istanbul. ``In the following quarters, we will see a moderation in domestic demand that will mostly hurt the services sector. The industrial sector will probably hold up more strongly.'' Exports leaped 26 percent in June from the year earlier, pushing the expansion in industrial production to a two-year high of 11.4 percent.

Sales abroad by Turkey rose on the weaker lira and rising demand from the European Union, which takes half of Turkey's exports. The economy of the dozen euro nations expanded at the fastest pace since 2000 in the first half. The $10-trillion economy grew 0.8 percent in the first quarter and 0.9 percent in the second.