Ankara--Turkey's economic growth weakened last year to 2.9 percent, well down on 2013 and creating worries for the Islamic-rooted government ahead of June legislative elections, official data showed on Tuesday.
Gross domestic product increased by 2.9 percent in 2014 from the year earlier, well behind the government's official target of 3.3 percent, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TUIK) said on its website.
The economy grew by 2.6 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to TUIK, compared to 1.7 percent in the third quarter, 2.1 percent in the second quarter and 4.3 percent in the first quarter.
The government is seeking a growth spurt ahead of the June 7 legislative elections, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pressuring the nominally independent central bank for aggressive rate cuts.
The London-based Capital Economics said in a note to clients that the latest quarterly figures were likely to put further pressure on the central bank to act to boost growth.
"It seems likely that the central bank will come under renewed pressure from the government to lower interest rates to support domestic demand," it said.
Ozgur Altug at BCG Partners in Istanbul said "the data confirmed that the economy was still slow in the fourth quarter and the expected recovery did not take place."
"Indicators suggest that the recovery did also not take place" in the first quarter of this year, he said in a note to clients.
AFP
