The capacity utilisation rate (CUR) of Turkish manufacturing rose further to 79% in June, the highest figure recorded since August 2008’s 81.9%, the central bank reported on June 23.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won his long-desired executive presidency with sweeping powers in April's referendum, but the economic cost of the turbulence in the months leading up to the vote was significant. That was especially the case in the third quarter of 2016 following the failed July 15 coup attempt. The quarter saw a GDP contraction of 1.3%.

The CUR figure for June is something of a flashback to the robust levels seen before the global financial crisis hit world economies in 2008.

The CUR stood at 78.8% in May this year and at 78% in June last year.

In the durable goods manufacturing sector, the rate slightly declined from 77.8% in May to 77.7% in June while capacity usage in the consumer goods industry edged down from 72.4% to 72%.

The intermediate goods industry saw its CUR increase from 79.6% in May to 80.3% in June while the rate in the capital goods sector was 83.7% in June versus 84.2% in May.

Turkey's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose from 51.7 in April to 53.5 in May, the highest level recorded since December 2013 while calendar-adjusted industrial production growth hit a 20-month high in April and exports surged 16% y/y in May.

Production of the industrial sector, which rose 5% y/y in Q4, was up 5.3% y/y in Q1 while manufacturing output rose by 5.1% y/y after growing 4.4% y/y in Q4, according to the latest data.

The strong loss in momentum that the Turkish economy experienced during 2016 is expected to reverse only gradually as uncertainty recedes during this year, the European Commission said last week. Supported firstly by net trade, momentum is set to improve towards the end of the year as domestic demand benefits from improvements in monetary conditions and confidence, according to the EC.