Turkey's jobless rolls have jumped by almost a quarter in the first quarter, as the country's latest economic crisis has put more than 300,000 people out of work, the National Statistics Institute said on Monday.
The Turkish economy plunged into crisis in February, forcing a 40-percent devaluation of the lira, after political confidence was undermined by a row over the government's ineffectual attempts to root out alleged corruption.
The number of unemployed rose by more than 358,000 in the three months to March 31 to 1.809 million from 1.451 million at the end of December, a rise of 24.7 percent, the institute said, reported by news agency Anatolia.
The official unemployment rate has risen to 8.6 percent from 8.3 percent, although the figures were widely seen as being far from giving the true picture in Turkey, where the informal economy plays a big role.
In February, the statistics office said that the previous stabilization programme, backed by the International Monetary Fund and put in place in December 1999, had led to the loss of 120,000 jobs in the second half of 2000.
A November financial crisis prompted the IMF and World Bank to step in with an emergency package of $10 billion (11.7 billion euros) aid, which was followed by another bail-out of $8 billion in the wake of the February turmoil – (AFP)
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