Retail sales in Türkiye for January grew at the fastest annual pace since early 2021, driven by widespread increases across food and non-food segments, official data revealed on Monday.
Retail sales surged 33.9% in January from the previous year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said. It marked a bigger growth than the 21.4% increase in December. Sales have grown at the fastest pace since April 2021.
Food, drinks and tobacco sales logged a double-digit growth of 24.4% and non-food sales jumped 42.4%, the data revealed. The increase in automotive fuel sales volume was 23.6%.
Month-over-month, retail sales advanced 5.4%, following December's 3.7% rise, said TurkStat.
Food, drinks and tobacco sales surged 7.4% month-over-month, while non-food sales – excluding automotive fuel – increased 5.6%. Automotive fuel sales rose 2.1% from January.
Among non-food items, electronic goods and furniture saw the largest increase of 10.6%, while textiles, clothing and footwear fell 1.2% from the previous month.
Another report from the statistical office revealed that the total turnover index, including industry, construction, trade and services sectors increased 94% on a yearly basis in January, after rising 90.5% in December.
Data released last week showed that industrial production rebounded in January, driven by manufacturing activity. Industrial output rose 4.5% on the year, in contrast to the 0.4% fall in December.
The large increases in industrial production and retail sales in January suggest that the economy got off to a strong start in early 2023, said Capital Economics' economist Liam Peach.
Activity will have been disrupted by the devastating earthquakes that struck the country’s southeastern region last month, but the latest survey data for February suggests that any impact on the manufacturing sector was limited, the economist added.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pledged a swift campaign and has said the devastated regions would be rebuilt within a year.
Business groups and economists estimate quake fallout costs of $100 billion and a shave of one to two percentage points off the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
The U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) said the damage from the disaster is estimated to be over $100 billion. The World Bank estimated that the quakes had caused more than $34 billion in damage, with recovery likely to double that sum.
To ease the fallout, the government has rolled out short-term work allowances for workers and easier access to loans for affected companies.