The Turkish economy grew 1.6 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018, Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced in a report Monday.

The gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 21.8 percent and reached 1.013 trillion ($190 billion) Turkish liras at current prices, TurkStat said.

According to the report, calendar-adjusted GDP in the third quarter increased by 2.1 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year, while seasonally and calendar-adjusted GDP shrank 1.1 percent compared to the previous quarter.

The fastest growing sector was services at 4.5 percent. The agriculture sector saw a 1.0 percent increase, while the industries sector expanded 0.3 percent.

Exports of goods and services were up 13.6 percent, while imports fell 16.7 percent year-on-year in the third quarter.

Compensation of employees increased by 20 percent, while net operating surplus/mixed income grew 22.2 percent quarter-on-quarter.

The Turkish government aims to reach an economic growth rate of 3.5 percent in 2020 and 5 percent by 2021 under its new economic program announced in September.

Turkey registered the slowest growth rate since third quarter of 2016 in the July-September 2018 period.

The Turkish economy grew 7.3 percent in the first quarter of this year and 5.3 percent in the second quarter.