Turkish economic confidence declines in December

Economic confidence in Turkey fell in December, according to a benchmark index published by the Turkish Statistical Institute.

Confidence dropped to 86.4 points from 89.5 points in November, the institute said on its website on Tuesday. Any reading below 100 points reflects pessimism.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced plans for sweeping reforms to the economy. In early November, he replaced the governor of the central bank and appointed a new treasury and finance minister to implement the measures, which are designed to bolster economic growth and confidence in the beleaguered lira.

Sub-indexes for confidence in the construction, retail and services industries all fell and remained in negative territory. Consumer confidence was unchanged at 80.1 points.

Confidence among manufacturers climbed to 110.4 points in December from 107.4 points the previous month.

The lira has rallied from an all-time low set on Nov. 6 to trade stronger than 7.5 per dollar. Losses for the year stand at about 20 percent. The central bank increased the benchmark interest rate to 17 percent from 15 percent last week, taking increases to 8.75 percentage points since September.

Annual consumer price inflation in Turkey accelerated to 14 percent in November from 11.9 percent the previous month.