Turkey Capacity Utilization Rises; Business Confidence Eases

(RTTNews) - Turkey's manufacturing capacity utilization rate increased for the first time in four months in September, while factory confidence remained slightly less optimistic, figures from the central bank showed on Wednesday.

The capacity utilization rate rose to 74.0 percent in September from 73.5 percent in the previous month.

The increase in September was mainly driven by higher capacity utilization in investment goods and intermediate goods.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the capacity utilization rate also increased somewhat to 73.8 percent in September from 73.6 percent in the previous month.

Separate data from the central bank showed that the non-adjusted manufacturing confidence index declined to 100.2 in September from 100.6 in August. Nonetheless, a score above 100 indicates an optimistic outlook.

The index reflecting general business conditions weakened to 90.9 from 91.5, while the current order book balance improved to 82.0 from 80.3, and expected employment in the next three months dropped to 99.3 from 100.2.