Turkish economy: Timely reporting and analysis of economic developments in Turkey with all its structural problems, as one of world’s 20 biggest economies
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan summoned his top economy policy officials in a closed-door meeting at the presidency on May 31 amid announcements of new price hikes while high inflation keeps straining households. Erdoğan held an emergency meeting at the Presidency attended by Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey
The deterioration continues in the current account. We saw a current account deficit of 18.1 billion dollars in the first quarter. This is the highest current account deficit since 2012: 2.2 percent as a ratio of the total GDP of the last four quarters. There is a higher current account deficit to GDP ratio (2.6
I was once a screen regular of Turkey’s one of the leading comedy writer Gülse Birsel’s TV Show European Side/Avrupa Yakası. Recently, I am hooked on Ali Sunal and his team’s Güldür Güldür comedy sketch show on Show TV. Last Saturday night, the show advertised that among the sketches to be aired after the commercial
Turkey’s cabinet meeting conveyed on April 12 amid pro-government media’s spins that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ministers will announce new measures for current economic crisis, such as increase in pensions or additional holiday bonuses. They wrote that that the increase in the prices of basic goods to be precluded, the low-income citizens
Consumer inflation in March was announced as 61.1 percent. Thus, we went back twenty years. The last time inflation was above this level was in March 2002: 65.1 percent. Nonetheless, there was a significant dissimilarity. At that time, the “Transition to a Strong Economy Program” was being implemented. The inflation, which had peaked at 73.2
Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati stated that Turkey’s inflation is high and “a problem”, adding that currency fluctuation has been taken under control as the high growth rate reflected employment positively. “Inflation is around 60 percent right now. Is this a problem? Yes it is a problem. But we managed to take (Turkish economy)
As the cost of living increases, Turkey’s government took measures such as VAT reductions. Nonetheless, inflation cannot be reduced with tax cuts unless the reasons that escalate it are eliminated. Early this week, the VAT rates on some basic goods were reduced from 18 percent to 8 percent. A similar practice was applied for some
The Monetary Policy Committee will convene on March 17 and announce its decision. You might smirk when you read the word “decision.” As a former Central Banker, I cannot stand to write otherwise. In fact, I had had no intention to write an article for today. This morning, I sat in front of my computer
As Turkey gained diplomatic momentum from Russia’s war on Ukraine, President Tayyip Erdoğan is fully aware of his political and economic priorities. He can take two basic steps to leverage Turkey’s diplomatic prominence to its economic advantage and even translate it into votes in upcoming elections. For instance, he may allow the CBRT committee to
As announced last week, the growth rate of Turkey was 11 percent in 2021. It is too high. So, is it sustainable? At which level could 2022 growth be? What are the risks that can create headwinds? Potential growth It is critical to pay attention to two different concepts related to growth. The first is