Turkey’s economy grew a less-than-expected but still robust 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 1.8% in the year as a whole, data showed on Monday, emerging as one of only a few globally to skirt a contraction amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Propelled by a burst of credit in mid-2020, the fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) grew 1.7% from the previous quarter on a seasonally and calendar-adjusted basis, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.

A surge in GDP growth in the second half of the year that surpassed Turkey’s potential rate was driven by a near doubling of lending by state banks to face down the initial virus wave.

The Turkish lira firmed to 7.3175 against the U.S. dollar after the GDP data and was 1.5% stronger than Friday’s close.

Commenting on the data, Treasury and Finance Minister Lütfi Elvan pointed out that Turkey was one of the few countries to end 2020 with positive growth.

The country outperformed all emerging market (EM) and G-20 peers except China, which grew 6.5% in the last quarter and 2.3% in the whole of 2020.

World economies mostly contracted and tumbled into recessions last year, with emerging and developing nations shrinking by some 2.4%, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Only Turkey, China and Egypt were among those seen growing, the IMF said.

In a Reuters poll, GDP was forecast to have expanded 7.1% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, despite new curfews and curbs on the service sector to address a second COVID-19 wave, and 2.3% for the whole year.

The median of 20 forecasts in a Bloomberg survey was for a 6.9% expansion.

A panel of 21 economists polled by Anadolu Agency (AA) had projected a 2.2% growth. Last year, the government had forecast GDP growth of 0.3%.

Economists’ forecast for the last quarter was 7% on average, ranging from 5% to 8.3%.

Below are highlights of the GDP report released by TurkStat: