Dr. Özatay is a professor at TOBB University of Economics and Technology
“Interest day: Will the Central Bank make a new mistake?” This was the title of my article (in Turkish), which was published just before the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on October 21. “I hope the policy rate will not be lowered. In that case, it will not be favorable for the
As of the early morning of October 14, the dollar rate has exceeded 9.10 liras following recent dismissals and new appointments at the Turkish Central Bank (CBRT). There have been ongoing exciting discussions on the exchange rate, such as the argument that the CBRT’s one-point interest rate cut on September 23 has not affected the
Different inflation values are flying around in Turkey. If you look at the consumer price index of the Turkish Statistical Institute (Turkstat), which should be of interest to the average citizen, annual inflation is 19.6 percent. Yet, a growing number of citizens think that inflation is much higher, mainly because of increasing prices. There is
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Turkish Central Bank (CBRT) reduced the policy rate by one percentage point to 18% on September 23. The Central Bank estimates that inflation will be much lower by the end of this year and the end of next year. This estimation, at a first look, seems to justify
We hear a lot lately: ‘But the Turkish opposition does not have an economic program to solve the economic problems.’ Leave aside the political arguments and look at the issue within the framework of the following question: ‘What kind of economic program will solve Turkey’s problems?’ Do we need a magic program, magic formula, or
One of the most interesting – in fact, more correct to say weird – developments of the last week were the words of Şahap Kavcıoğlu, The Governor of the Turkish Central Bank (CBRT), who implied that from now they would focus on core inflation which excludes food and energy prices and alike. That would mean