Turkey tops OECD countries with GDP growth rate

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA

Turkey topped the OECD member countries and ranked second in Europe with its gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in the second quarter of 2018.

The Turkish economy grew by 5.2 percent to 884 billion Turkish liras ($204.3 billion) in April-June period compared to the same period last year, Turkey's Statistical Institute said on Monday.

With these figures, Turkey ranked first among the OECD countries, who released their data. Turkey was followed by Poland and Chile (5 percent), Hungary (4.6) and Latvia (4.4), according to data compiled by an Anadolu Agency correspondent.

OECD countries' average growth rate was 2.5 percent in the second quarter, versus the same quarter of 2017.

On the other hand, the lowest growth rates were seen in Denmark, Japan, and Italy, by 0.6 percent, 1 percent, and 1.2 percent, respectively.

In the first quarter of 2018, Ireland was first among the 36 OECD countries with a growth rate of 10 percent, while Turkey ranked the second with 7.3 percent.

Among 28 countries of the EU, Turkey ranked the second after Malta, whose GDP rose by 5.7 percent year-on-year in the second quarter. Poland, Hungary, and Latvia followed Malta and Turkey.

In the same period, EU28's slowest-growing countries were Denmark (0.6 percent), Italy (1.2) and the U.K. (1.3).

Both EA19 and EU28's economies grew by 2.1 percent in the April-June period, versus the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries' average growth rate for the second quarter was 2.7 percent.

Turkey's annual GDP growth rate was also 7.4 percent in 2017.