Turkey’s consumer confidence index has risen to 59.4 points in March, the Diken news website reported on Thursday, citing a release by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
The index showed a 2.9 percent increase over February’s 57.8 points.
After starting the year 2018 around 70 points, the index had shown a sharp decline in the second half of the year, falling below 60 points, to levels that had not been seen since the aftermath of a global financial crisis of 2008.
One of the essential economic indicators, the consumer confidence index demonstrates spending tendencies of consumers as well as directly affecting supply dynamics shaped by consumer demand.
Scores above 100 point to an optimistic outlook in consumer confidence, while numbers below 100 indicate pessimism. Turkey’s economy was shaken by a currency crisis in 2018. While the decline in the value of the Turkish lira has stopped and its volatility decreased, interest rates and inflation remained high in the last few months, the effects of which were notable in food prices.