Turkey - "Turkey's recession-hit economy shrank by 7.0 percent in the second quarter of the year, official data showed on Thursday, but the data signaled an easing of a drastic downturn earlier in the year. The contraction, announced by the Turkish Statistics Institute, was less than market expectations of a contraction of between 8.0 and 9.0 percent. The institute however revised the contraction in the first quarter to 14.3 percent from 13.8 percent and the overall growth rate for 2008 to 0.9 percent from 1.1 percent...." [Agence France Presse/Factiva]

Xinhua adds that "...the central bank has lowered its overnight borrowing rate by 9 percentage points to a record low of 7.75 percent since last November. The government also reduced sales taxes on purchase of automobiles and home appliances. Turkey's industrial output slump eased in July to a 9.2 percent year-on-year decline, compared with a fall of 9.7 percent in June and 17.4 percent in May...." [Xinhua/Factiva]

However, FT writes that "...analysts warn that the recovery will inevitably be slower if Ankara continues to keep the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at arm's length, forgoing funds that would reduce the need for government borrowing. Turkey's central bank governor and ministers have stressed in recent weeks that the country does not need help to meet its financing needs - a position supported by separate data released on Thursday showing the current account deficit in the first seven months of the year was almost 80 percent lower than in 2008...."[Financial Times/Factiva]