Mubasher: Turkey’s economic growth gained momentum in the first quarter of 2018, data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed on Monday.

The Turkish economy expanded by 7.4% in the first three months ended March compared with the same period last year, with gross domestic product (GDP) jumping to 792.7 billion Turkish liras (nearly $207.5 billion), according to Anadolu Agency, citing TurkStat.

This exceeds the 6.9% growth expected by 19 analysts polled by the Turkish news agency on Friday.

The agriculture sector posted a year-on-year growth of 4.6% during the first quarter, while the total value-added services sector saw an increase of 10%.

Turkey's industrial sector also expanded by 8.8% in the period from January to March, while the construction segment went up 6.9%.

The solid economic growth in the first quarter is attributed to the considerable positive contribution of domestic consumption, as well as rising investments, IS Investment economist Muammer Komurcuoglu said in a note, adding that the leading indicators signal a slowdown starting from the second quarter of 2018.