Istanbul (dpa) - Turkey‘s statistics office announced on Friday that the country‘s economy grew by 2.9 per cent last year despite a major decrease in tourism in the wake of the failed July coup.Turkey recorded 3.5-per-cent GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2016, data showed. The economy had contracted 1.3 per cent the previous quarter for the first time since 2009.At the beginning of last year, the Turkish government had forecast economic growth of 4.5 per cent in 2016, which officials revised down to 3.2 per cent after the failed military putsch.The July coup attempt and the government‘s subsequent strong-armed crackdown on the military, civil servants and political opponents has deterred investors and tourists, as have multiple terrorist attacks, political instability and diplomatic tensions with the EU.Data from the Tourism Ministry released on Thursday showed that tourism figures for 2016 were down 30 per cent on the previous year, causing a sharp dip in revenues. The sector is a key source of foreign income and supports a large number of jobs. Meanwhile, Turkey‘s trade deficit continued to grow, according to the statistics office. In February the sum of imports exceeded that of exports by roughly 3.7 billion dollars, an increase of 15 per cent compared with the previous month.
