ANKARA, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's industrial production expanded by 9.6 percent year-over-year in March, the Turkish Statistical Institute announced on Friday.
On a monthly basis, the index narrowed by 1.8 percent in March, according to the data.
In February, the industrial production increased by 13.3 percent on an annual basis, gaining pace from the 7.6 percent year-on-year increase of the previous month.
In March, when the sub-sectors of the industry are analyzed, the index climbed by 2.9 percent in the mining and quarrying sector and 10.6 percent in the key manufacturing industry sector compared to the same month of the previous year.
The electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning production and distribution sector increased by 1.9 percent on-year-on in March.
The semi-official Anadolu Agency reported that its Finance Industrial Production Expectation Survey had expected the calendar-adjusted industrial production index to increase by 9.4 percent in March compared to the same period of the previous year.
Industrial production is an important indicator of growth prospects.
The Turkish economy expanded 11 percent year-on-year in 2021, a sharp increase from a year earlier as the economy bounced back from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Yet, Turkey's inflation hit 69.9 percent in April and economists expect it will continue rising after the conflict between Russia and Ukraine caused energy and commodity prices to soar.
Turkey's central bank expects the country's economy to grow by around 7 percent in the first quarter of 2022.
Turkey's inflation amid volatility in the exchange rates, the depreciation of the Turkish lira, as well as the impacts of the Ukrainian crisis, are challenges for Turkey's economic growth in 2022. ■
