Favorable Weather Conditions Boost Agricultural Production by 13%
· Sabah Ekonomi
While the Turkish economy grew by 2.3% in the second quarter, the agricultural sector recorded a 13.3% increase in production due to favorable weather conditions, directly contributing to growth.
Second Quarter Economic Growth
Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat evaluated the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data for the second quarter of the year, stating that the Turkish economy maintained its resilience against global risks. According to the statement by Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat, the Turkish economy grew by 2.3% in the second quarter. Net merchandise and services exports contributed positively by 0.6 percentage points to this growth. On the production side, industry, services, and agriculture stood out, while on the expenditure side, private consumption supported growth with 2.3 percentage points and investments with 0.2 percentage points; the impact of public expenditures was -0.2 percentage points.
Strong Production Increase in Agriculture
The high performance in agricultural production and the positive impact of climate conditions were notable in the second quarter data. Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat made the following assessment regarding sectoral contributions:
"In this regard, services have been the sector contributing the most to growth. Production in the industrial sector increased by 2.4%, making a positive contribution of 0.5 percentage points to growth. With the support of favorable weather conditions, agricultural production increased by 13.3%, contributing 0.5 percentage points to growth. Value added in the construction sector decreased by 1.9%."
With these results, the agricultural sector provided a strong momentum of 0.5 percentage points directly to the growth of national income.
Sectoral Dynamics and Contributions
A balanced trend continued in other branches of the economy, with the services sector increasing its value added by 2.1%, becoming the area that contributed the most to growth. Industrial production showed a 2.4% increase, and the uninterrupted support of investments to growth reached 7 quarters. Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat made the following statements regarding employment and the foreign trade balance:
"The unemployment rate was realized as 8.1% in July of this year, remaining below 10% for the last 39 months. Despite increasing geopolitical risks and uncertainty on a global scale, the foreign trade deficit in the second quarter of this year decreased by 8.8% compared to the second quarter of last year, and the current account deficit decreased by 7.7%."
Foreign Trade and Future Targets
The ratio of the annualized current account deficit to national income was 2.3% in the second quarter. Minister of Trade Ömer Bolat made the following remarks regarding growth and export targets:
"The second quarter growth performance has demonstrated the resilience of our economy in a period of increasing challenging conditions and geopolitical risks globally. The moderate outlook in the current account balance, with the contribution of the activities carried out by our Ministry, is being maintained despite all negative global developments. We will continue our efforts without slowing down to achieve a performance above $282 billion in merchandise exports, reach $410 billion in merchandise and services exports, and strengthen the growth momentum, which is our year-end target."