The problems that European economies faced pose a remarkable risk for Turkey, Turkish Central Bank Governor Durmus Yilmaz said on Thursday.

"Taking into account that the European Union is the biggest market for our exported items, setbacks the Union is tackling with constitute a risk for our country," Yilmaz told the World Management Congress in the central province of Konya.

Yilmaz said Turkey had shown a major resistance to the global economic crisis thanks to its floating currency rate, sound monetary policy and a well-established banking system as well as strict financial discipline.

"Since mid-2009, when the crisis made a peak, Turkey's GDP increased by 11 percent, industrial production was up by 21 percent and unemployment decreased three points," Yilmaz said.

Yilmaz also said Turkey needed to make a series of reforms to maintain a strong and a sustainable growth rate, adding that the country grew 4.5 percent on average for the last fifty years.

AA