NEWS FROM TÜRKİYE

The Financial Times - Türkiye's economy is almost one-third bigger than previous estimates, boosting the government's per capita income targets and increasing the prospect its credit rating will be raised. According to official figures released on Saturday, Türkiye's gross domestic product was TL758bn ($606bn, £300bn) in 2006, a 31.6 per cent rise on the previous estimate of TL576bn. Per capita income for that year was raised sharply, from $5,480 to nearly $7,500. Türkiye is one of the most-watched emerging markets and foreign investors own 70 per cent of the Istanbul stock market. The revision, which had been anticipated, could spark an upsurge in foreign direct investment and lift Türkiye's debt-to-GDP ratio, economists said. It would boost government ambitions of lifting per capita GDP to $10,000 by 2013. "We've become rich overnight," the daily newspaper Vatan reported, perhaps reflecting some scepticism at the revisions, which are designed to bring Türkiye's official statistics into line with the way economic data are compiled in European Union countries. Türkiye is negotiating to join the EU. Still, the revised data give a more accurate picture of the economy, which has grown by at least one-third since 2002 under a government policy of tight fiscal discipline, a strong manufacturing base, a boom in construction, and rising FDI.