Mehmet

Turkey's economic growth weakened last year to 2.9 percent, well down on 2013 and creating worries for the Turkish government ahead of June legislative elections, official data showed on March 31.
      

An Istanbul prosecutor has dismissed a lawsuit into former Interior Minister ?dris Naim ?ahin?s claims that the National Intelligence Organization (M?T) played a role in an Istanbul bomb attack in which an 18-year-old woman was killed.

Turkey's Prime Ministry office has spent some 460.7 million Turkish Liras of its total yearly budget of around 1 billion liras in the first two months of the year, according to the latest budget realization figures of the Finance Ministry.

The Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has changed the name of the 3.5-kilometer long ??stinye Bay?r?? Street where the posh mall ?stinye Park is located into ?Qatar Street.? At the municipal assembly, despite the objections of the opposition party members, the name ?Qatar Street? was approved with the votes of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) members.

Turkey's budget deficit hit 2.36 billion Turkish Liras ($900 million) in February due to higher seasonal spending on infrastructure and interest expenditures, Finance Minister Mehmet ?im?ek said March 16.
The government announced a 1.7 billion-lira surplus in the February budget last year.

 Turkey needs growth higher than its current rate of around 3 percent if it is to avoid the "middle income trap," and will need structural reforms to achieve it, the country's finance minister said on March 14.

?The 2009 local elections? Some unaccredited $4,900,000,000 entered Turkey. The 2010 constitutional referendum... Some unaccredited $5,600,000,000 entered Turkey. The 2011 general elections, some unaccredited $12,200,000,000 entered Turkey. In 2012 and 2013 there are no elections; there were no unaccredited dollar inflows to Turkey. This year we have general elections.

The Uluda? Economy Summit will be held March 13-14 in cooperation with monthly Capital and weekly Economist magazines in the Turkish industrial region of Bursa.

Key figures from around the world and from Turkey will participate as speakers in the Fourth Uluda? Economy Summit, including former European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet.

Turkey?s industrial production declined a calendar-adjusted 2.2 percent year-on-year in January, reversing a 2.5 percent increase in the previous month, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜ?K) showed on March 9.

Seasonally and calendar adjusted industrial production decreased by 1.4 percent compared with the previous month, according to TÜ?K data.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has held meetings with the chiefs of key monetary and financial institutions, including the Central Bank governor, shortly after returning from New York where he had sought to assure investors spooked by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an?s recent tirades against the Central Bank.