Turkey: Retail Sales Growth Nears 2-Year High.

Retail sales in Turkey climbed by 18.8% year-on-year in January 2026, accelerating from an upwardly revised 16.5% rise in the previous month. This marked the fastest growth in retail activity since March 2024, mainly driven by higher sales for non-food products (26.4% vs 20.2% in December), particularly computers, books, and communication devices (43.1% vs 30.1%), mail-order and internet sales (29.7% vs 17.4%), medical products and cosmetics (15.4% vs 22.7%), and textiles, clothing and footwear (14.9% vs 6.6%). In contrast, trade increased at a softer pace for electrical appliances and furniture (2% vs 8.7%). Additionally, sales growth slowed for food, beverages and tobacco (9.5% vs 10.2%) and automotive fuel (0.5% vs 8.6%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail trade rose by 2.4% in January, marking its sharpest increase in four months, following an upwardly revised 1.9% gain in the preceding period.