Turkey's GDP to grow by 4.5 pct in 2008

"No doubt, developments in the world economy affected Turkey and Turkey's growth rate in 2007 was 4.5 percent after a rate of 7 percent in the past several years. Compared to many European countries, Turkey's growth rate is still very high," Nazim Ekren said at the Fourth Term Turkey-Czech Republic Joint Economic Commission (JEC) meeting in Ankara.        Â

"Turkey's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.6 percent in the first quarter of 2008 beyond the expectations of the government," Ekren also said.

"Turkey's exports increased by 38 percent in 2008, when compared to last year. Turkey would exceed its predicted export volume of $135 billion by the end of 2008," he added.

The Turkish government had set a growth target of 5.5 percent for 2008, although government officials have since revised its estimates to around 4.5 percent.