TURKEY

  grows faster than Eurozone's major economies

2.2 percent growth last year is higher than all major Eurozone countries except relatively small sized Estonia. The global economic crisis in effect for six months forced many great economies in Europe to shrink. Turkish economy grew 2.2 percent in 2012 where the Euro zone economy was expected to grow 0.6 percent and EU was expected to shrink 0,3 percent. Turkey would rank second with its economic growth rate following Estonia (3.2%) in the Euro zone if it had joined the single currency. Although Turkey loses speed in growth following 9.2 and 8.8 percent growth rates in 2010 and 2011 respectively, Turkish economy grew 3.3 percent in the first quarter, 2,9 percent in the second quarter, 1,6 percent in the third quarter and 1,4 percent in the final quarter of 2012. Turkish economy has continued its growth uninterruptedly since the final quarter of 2009 despite the global economic crisis. Economies of Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy shrank in 2012 whereas Ireland managed to grow 0.9 percent despite its bailout agreement with IMF and the EU in 2010. The economic situation of Europe's so called "locomotive" economies is not so different either. Germany, the strongest economy of the EU, grew 0.7 percent in 2012 and is expected to grow 0.5 percent in 2013 indicating that it was severely affected by the global economic crisis. On the other hand, the French economy is not expected to grow in 2012 and the British economy grew only 0.3 percent in 2012. Economic growth predictions of EU states according to the European Commission, Eurostat are given below: 2011 2012 2013 2014 Estonia 8.3 3.2 3.0 4.0 Turkey 8.8 2.2 2.9 3.7 Slovakia 3.2 2.0 1.1 2.9 Ireland 1.4 0.9 1.1 2.2 Malta 1.7 0.8 1.5 2.0 Austria 2.7 0.8 0.7 1.9 Germany 3.0 0.7 0.5 2.0 Britain 1.0 0.3 0.9 1.9 Luxembourg 1.7 0.2 0.5 1.6 France 1.7 0.0 0.1 1.2 Greece -7.1 -6.4 -4.4 0.6 Portugal -1.6 -3.2 -1.9 0.8 Italy 0.4 -2.4 -1.0 0.8 Greek Cypriot administration 0.5 -2.4 -3.5 -1.3 Slovenia 0.6 -2.3 -2.0 0.7 Spain 0.4 -1.4 -1.4 0.8 Holland 1.0 -0.9 -0.6 1.1 Euro zone (17 states) 1.4 -0.6 -0.3 1.4 European Union (27 states) 1.5 -0.3 0.1 1.6 Belgium 1.8 -0.2 0.2 1.5 Finland 2.8 -0.2 0.3 1.2