Turkey: Business confidence turns pessimistic in March
Confidence among Turkish firms turned pessimistic for the first time in six months in March, likely linked to the coronavirus pandemic hitting the global economy, with the Real Sector Confidence Index falling from February’s 21-month high of 106.9 to 99.7.
The headline print reflected a deterioration in the assessment of current total orders and less optimism regarding output, employment and export orders in the next three months. Consequently, firms became downbeat regarding fixed investment expenditure despite cheap credit conditions due to the Central Bank’s strong easing cycle.
Meanwhile, inflation expectations were virtually unchanged at 13.2% in March (February: 13.1%); however, the figure remained markedly above the Central Bank’s year-end inflation expectation of 8.2%.