Turkey's calendar-adjusted industrial production rose 9.8 percent in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period last year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Wednesday.

Industrial output is considered a vital indicator for the economy, as it is seen as a preliminary gauge for GDP growth.

The country's industrial production also increased by 7.6 percent in March compared with the same month of the previous year, TurkStat added.

Among three main sub-indices, the mining and quarrying index saw the highest annual increase in March, with 10.7 percent.

The manufacturing index rose 7.9 percent while the electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply index was up 2.9 percent during the same period.

The data also showed that industrial production climbed slightly 0.2 percent on a monthly basis in March.

Among all sub-sectors of the seasonal and calendar-adjusted industrial sector, manufacturing was the only sub-sector to see a rise month-on-month in March with an increase of 0.4 percent.

Mining and quarrying index, and electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply index decreased by 2.1 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, in this period.

The term "calendar-adjusted" is used to refer to data without calendar and holiday-originated effects.