The front page of the Yeni Şafak newspaper on May 26 surprised those who saw it and was widely discussed in political and economic circles. The headline of Yeni Şafak (New Dawn in Turkish), one of the staunchest supporters of President Tayyip Erdoğan and the AKP government, read in large letters, “Interest rates up, foreign
With a surprise decision, the Central Bank (CBRT) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) raised the policy rate by 350 basis points to 46 percent on April 17. The Committee raised the Central Bank’s overnight lending rate from 46 percent to 49 percent and the overnight borrowing rate from 41 percent to 44.5 percent. In its written
The İmamoğlu Crisis continues. Not only on the Turkish domestic political front, but also in terms of its effects on the economy. Foreign investors, preoccupied with the Russia-Ukraine crisis, noticed the Türkiye bleep on their radar screens by the detention of İstanbul Metropolitan Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu on March 19. Following his arrest by the court,
I was at the National Day reception at the Chinese Embassy in Ankara when Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Öncü Keçeli made a statement “it is an internal U.S. matter” regarding the federal corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams in which Türkiye is at the center. Unlike the Saudi Arabian reception, the entire Turkish military
Turkish Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) Deputy Chairman Mustafa Aydın is under scrutiny for accepting substantial wedding gifts from bank executives whom he is responsible for regulating. Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek, upon returning from a trip to the United States, immediately ordered an investigation into the matter, stating that “necessary actions will
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz unveiled the Medium Term Program (MTP), outlining Ankara’s economic roadmap for the next three years. The MTP marks a crucial juncture for both the country’s economic recovery efforts and the political future of both President Tayyip Erdoğan and Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. While numerous questions arise, the
I have no intention of targeting Mehmet Şimşek, the Minister of Treasury and Finance. Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) members are already doing that enough. Despite the defeat in the March 31 elections, they act as if President Tayyip Erdoğan wasn’t the sole decision-maker and they had done everything right, still claiming, “If we
The Central Bank of Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) which sold foreign currency from its reserves to prevent the US dollar from appreciating further against the Turkish lira (TL) before the March 31 elections, is now buying US dollars from the market to prevent the TL from appreciating too much against the dollar. According to Central
In a bid to curb surging inflation and restore fiscal discipline, Türkish Finance Ministry unveiled an extensive savings plan aimed at reining in public spending. Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz and Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek announced a new “Public Savings Plan” on May 13 at a joint briefing. The savings plan comes as Türkiye
President Tayyip Erdoğan is using the constitutional amendment as a smokescreen to obscure and distract attention from the major problems ahead. On the night of April 28, days before Erdoğan’s meeting with CHP leader Özgür Özel, Chief Legal Advisor Mehmet Uçum published the text “What could be the main principles of the new constitution”, which