Turkish Growth Races to Four Percent in Third Quarter

Turkey's economy grew 4.0 percent in the third quarter of 2015 from the same period last year, statistics showed on Thursday, beating expectations and showing the economy in better shape than previously assumed.

The figures mean that the economy grew 3.4 percent in the first nine months of 2015, compared with an overall growth rate of 2.9 percent in 2014, the statistics office said in a statement.

Adjusted for seasonal and calendar factors, gross domestic product (GDP) grew 5.4 percent in the third quarter from the same period the year earlier and 1.3 percent from the second quarter 2015, it added.

The headline growth figure was "staggering", said William Jackson at London-based Capital Economics in a note to clients, adding it was the fastest annual growth rate since the second quarter of 2011.

He said the figure means that full year GDP growth for 2015 would likely be to "stronger than we had previously anticipated", predicting a figure closer to 3.5 percent than 3.0.

Ozgur Altug, chief economist at BGC Partners in Istanbul, said the rise came despite political uncertainty surrounding the November 1 election and the government's military campaign against Kurdish militants.

"The data confirmed that the economy continued to accelerate in the third quarter despite political uncertainty and rising terrorism," he said.

Coupled with better-than-expected October industrial output figures, Altug said he would revise the 2015 GDP growth forecast from 2.7 percent to 3.4 percent.

"The figures confirm the Turkish economy's resilience to shocks."