Turkey's economic confidence index surged 4.4% month-on-month, hitting 85.9 in August, according to the country's statistical institute Friday.
The figure rose from 82.2 in July thanks to improvements in subreadings of the real sector, services and retail trade, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).
Economic activity had declined sharply in March and April, when the index hit a low of 51.3 points, as Ankara implemented measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. Measures were gradually eased in May and mostly lifted in June.
“We can see that the positive trend continues. Therefore, we can reach the conclusion that the expectations of our citizens about the coming period are more positive than in the pandemic period,” Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank said, evaluating the data.
The real sector confidence index saw the highest rise in August, up 5.8% to 105.2.
It was followed by the services and retail trade confidence subindices, which rose 5.7% and 0.2%, respectively, during the same period.
"On the other hand, consumer confidence index decreased by 2.2% and became 59.6 and construction confidence index decreased by 2.3% and became 85.0 in August," TurkStat said.
The index, which points to an optimistic outlook when above 100 and pessimistic when below, last stood above 100 points in March 2018.