Turkey's economy grew by more than 6 per cent last year, continuing a five-year run of steady expansion and providing the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, with political ammunition ahead of an autumn general election.

Fuelled by political and macroeconomic stability and by unprecedented levels of foreign direct investment, gross domestic product grew by 6.1 per cent in 2006, well ahead of expectations, official figures showed yesterday. Cumulative expansion over the past five years reached 40 per cent, making it the longest and most stable stretch of uninterrupted growth since at least 1970.