Turkish economic confidence down slightly in February

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey’s economic confidence index fell 0.3% month-on-month in February to 99.1 points, following massive earthquakes that devastated the country’s southern region, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute showed on Monday.

The index, which points to an optimistic outlook when above 100 and pessimistic when below, hit a record low in 2020 before recovering as coronavirus measures were eased.

The government introduced a series of measures to ease quake fallout that are expected to cost at least $50 billion. But economists have predicted it will shave some one to two percentage points off economic growth this year.

(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Ebru Tuncay; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)