Turkey ranked second after Britain among the most developed countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development during the second quarter of 2021.

Today, Wednesday, the Turkish Statistical Office announced that the country's gross domestic product grew by 21.7% year-on-year during the past quarter, recovering strongly from a sharp slowdown a year ago due to Covid-19 restrictions.

This percentage is the highest among the recorded and announced figures since 1999, according to official data.

The lira rose to 8.30 per dollar after this data, compared to the closing level at 8.32 liras.


Britain in the fore

According to data collected by Anadolu Agency from the Turkish Statistics Authority and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development:

  • The average growth of the economies of the OIC countries during the second quarter of this year reached 13%.

  • Growth during the mentioned period amounted to 13.2% in the European Union (comprising 27 countries), and 13.6% in the Eurozone (comprising 19 countries).

  • Britain achieved a growth rate of 22.2%, topping the OECD countries, which include the 38 largest economies around the world.

  • Spain came in third place after Turkey with 19.8%, then Mexico with 19.5%, according to provisional data.

  • The percentage in France was 18.7%, Hungary 18.1%, Italy 17.3%, Chile 17.2%, and Colombia 17%.

  • Norway achieved growth during the last quarter by 5.7%, South Korea by 5.9%, Finland by 7% and Japan by 7.6%.

 Strong and sustainable growth

Meanwhile, Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said that his country will continue strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive economic growth.

This came in a tweet to him via his Twitter account, commenting on the significant growth achieved by the Turkish economy during the second quarter of this year.

Oktay pointed out that Turkey ranked second among the most economically developed G-20 countries, and expressed his happiness at seeing the impact of the industrial sector and exports on economic growth.

A Reuters poll forecast growth of 7.95% for the full year.


Last year, the Turkish economy - amounting to 720 billion dollars - grew 1.8%, despite its 10.4% decline in the second quarter, and it was one of the few global economies that avoided an annual contraction amid the initial repercussions of the pandemic.

Stronger exports

For his part, Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Muş said that exports of goods and services accounted for half of the growth rate achieved by his country in the second quarter of this year.

The minister indicated - in a tweet via Twitter - that Turkey continues to grow through exports, and reported that the contributions of exports of goods and services to growth amounted to 10.8%.

"This value is the largest contribution recorded since 1998," he added.

As for Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Lutfi Alwan, he confirmed - also in a tweet - that 57% of the growth achieved in the last quarter came from investments and net external demand.

According to Reuters, the growth in the second quarter was led by the services sector by 45.8% annually, followed by the industrial sector by 40.5% and the information and services sector by 25.3%.