Turkey's gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 1.8 percent in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's statistical authority announced on Monday.

The Turkish economy ended 2020 on a high note, growing by 5.9 percent in the last quarter and 1.8 percent in the year as a whole, the Turkish Statistical Institute said.

"Turkey is one of the few economies that could achieve growth in the pandemic year," said Enver Erkan, an economist at Istanbul-based Tera Securities.

Erkan forecasted a growth rate of 4.8 percent for 2021, amid the mass vaccination drive launched in mid-January in Turkey.

However, some analysts underlined that this growth is partly due to a credit boom, which helps recovery while at the same time causing instability in currency and triggering inflation.

"Credit growth, which is among the main drivers of growth, was a continuation of the credit boom brought about by the low-interest policy in Q3 2020," Erkan said.

Turkey's economy was slowly improving after a 2018 currency meltdown, while it was hit hard by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

Inflation and unemployment went up to two-digit figures despite government supports and loans for closed businesses and workers who lost their jobs.

Ankara is expected to announce a series of measures in mid-March to help the ailing economy, focusing on investment, production, export, and employment, according to analysts.