The March 31 local elections in Türkiye marked the most severe defeat for the incumbent AKP in its 20-year reign. This voter backlash was a belated response to a decade of policy missteps that severely disrupted economic stability, especially after September 2021. In the run-up to the general elections in May 2023, the government opened
The Turkish Central Bank’s (CBRT) Monetary Policy Committee (PPK) increased the policy rate by 500 base points from 45 percent to 50 percent at its March 21 meeting. In the statement made by the PPK, which convened under the chairmanship of Central Bank Governor Fatih Karahan, it was stated that it was decided to increase
The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) Governor Fatih Karahan, facing the cameras for the first time following the contentious dismissal of the previous Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan from office, announced the first inflation report for the year 2024. Speaking at a press conference on February 8, Karahan stated that the inflation forecasts
The Ministry of Treasury and Finance published Türkiye’s top taxpayers list after 3 years on January 3, revealing that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law and Türkiye’s drone manufacturer Baykar’s chairman, Selçuk Bayraktar, has been the top taxpayer for three years in a row: 2020, 2021, and 2022. First of all, congratulations to Bayraktar. He became
This article is one of the most challenging ones that I have written for a newspaper or any other media outlet. I will explain the reason at the end, but first, let me begin with the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) Monetary Policy Committee’s (MPC) latest decision. The MPC, raised the one-week
Let’s be clear. It was already clear from Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s contacts with Ukraine and Russia that President Tayyip Erdoğan would not be able to convince his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to return to the grain deal at the Sochi meeting on September 4. Diplomatic sources considered it a miracle if the issue was
The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Turkey (CBRT) raised the policy rate from 17.5 percent to 25 percent on August 24. “The Committee decided to continue the monetary tightening process to establish the disinflation course as soon as possible, to anchor inflation expectations, and to control the deterioration in pricing behavior,” the
Türkiye may print 500 and 1000 Turkish Lira banknotes amid increasing inflation and currency crisis. This time last year, former Minister of Treasury and Finance, Nurettin Nebati was saying “there is no need for such measure,” when asked if there will be any banknotes with larger denomination. His ministry was obeying the instructions of President
On August 3, Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced a consumer price index increase of 9.5 percent for July, which is a one-month increase. Unfortunately, the annual consumer inflation is 47.8 percent. Moreover, regarding what has been happening in Türkiye since 2021, there is nothing strange about the 9.5 percent monthly uprise in the consumer price
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has signed a series of presidential decrees that raise the value-added tax (VAT) rate from 18 percent to 20 percent and increase public fees by 50 percent. The decrees, which took effect immediately on July 7 also raise the revenues from betting to 10-15 percent and the Banking and Insurance