Turkish motor vehicle registrations fall by 17 percent in December

Registrations of motor vehicles in Turkey fell by 17 percent to 85,300 in December from the previous month, the Turkish Statistical Institute said.

On an annual basis, registrations rose by 34 percent from December 2019, the institute said in a monthly report on Tuesday.

Turkish demand for goods including cars has shown signs of slowing after the central bank hiked interest rates in the last four months of the year. The higher rates mean banks are now charging consumers more for car loans denominated in liras – annual interest rates now average 20.4 percent compared with 15.6 percent at the end of August, according to central bank data.

The number of motor vehicles registered in Turkey increased by 55 percent to 1.04 million in 2020.