'Turkey's banner 2017 growth puts it front of the pack'

The Turkish economy’s banner annual growth of 7.4 percent in 2017 propelled it to the ranks of countries worldwide with the strongest growth, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Thursday.

Simsek's remarks came after the announcement by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) that the economy grew 7.4 percent in 2017 compared with the previous year.

"Thus, Turkey's economy in 2017 ranks among the countries that show the strongest growth performance among the OECD, EU and G20," Simsek said in a statement.

Simsek said Turkey's GDP at current values rose to 3.1 trillion Turkish liras (nearly $850.7 billion) in 2017.

He added that incentives for investment, production, employment, and exports, and policies to support the economy since the last quarter of 2016 were key in this high growth performance.

"With our high growth performance in 2017, we also reached our goal of a strong employment increase," he said.

Simsek said Turkey's economy had covered a "significant" distance with reforms that were "resolutely" implemented over the last five years.

Also marking the positive news, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said Turkey’s growth in 2017 put it first among G20 economies.

"At last we took the lead, even leaving China behind in the G20, and we were not surprised," Zeybekci said in a statement.

Zeybekci said that in 2017 all Turkey's sectors grew and exports rose 10.2 percent.

"The leading indicators show that we will achieve significant growth in 2018 as well," he added.