Turkey’s central bank moved to lower borrowing costs for the first time in nearly five months, restarting an easing cycle that had been disrupted by a political furor, the Wall Street Journal reported. The central bank said Thursday it would lower its benchmark rate by three points to 43% from 46%, marking the first time since early March that it has cut rates. Later that month, a prominent political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was arrested by police on what the opposition described as politically motivated charges.
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Turkish steelmaker Sıddık Kardeşler Haddecilik, has been unable to overcome its ongoing financial difficulties and has filed for bankruptcy proceedings, SteelOrbis.com reported. Accordingly, the company and its partners have filed for bankruptcy with the Istanbul Anatolia Second Commercial Court of First Instance, with its debt reportedly amounting to TRY 2.6 billion ($90.32 million). The court granted the company a three-month temporary notice and appointed a temporary bankruptcy commissioner.
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Turkey is taking steps to prevent the laundering of criminal proceeds from illegal betting and fraud through cryptocurrency transactions, Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. On his X account, he reposted an article by state-owned Anadolu news agency saying Turkey was preparing to introduce transfer limits and mandatory waiting periods for withdrawals on crypto assets.
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Turkey’s central bank raised its key interest rate Thursday, reversing a previous course of rate reductions as political conflict threatens to stymie the bank’s efforts to tame high inflation, the Wall Street Journal reported. The bank said it will raise its one-week repo rate to 46% from 42.5% previously. It had been expected to keep rates on hold, according to economists polled by FactSet. Recent developments in financial markets are likely to lead core goods inflation to rise this month, the bank said in a statement.
Turkey’s annual inflation rate dropped to 38.1% in March, down from February’s 39.1%, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute, EuroNews.com reported. It was also the lowest number since December 2021. Prices rose at a slower pace across a number of categories, such as footwear and clothing, which came in at 14.8% in March, down from 20.8% in the previous month. Transport inflation dropped to 21.6% in March, down from 23.4% in February. Household equipment and furnishings inflation slid marginally to 32.4% in March, down from 33.6% in the previous month.
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Turkey’s central bank raised one of its key interest rates in a surprise meeting on Thursday, the latest move by authorities to reverse a decline in the lira, Bloomberg News reported. The monetary authority hiked the overnight lending rate by two percentage points to 46%, while keeping the main gauge of one-week repo unchanged. The lira, which tumbled 3.2% a day earlier, rose briefly after the news and was trading 0.1% lower at 37.9520 per dollar at 7:22 p.m.
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Turkey lowered its benchmark one-week repo rate from 45% to 42.5% on Thursday, EuroNews.com reported. The decision came after official data showed annual inflation dipping below 40% for the first time in nearly two years. In a statement released after the committee meeting, the bank said it would review inflation trends and adjust rates cautiously in upcoming policy meetings. “While inflation expectations and pricing behaviour tend to improve, they continue to pose risks to the disinflation process,” the bank said.
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Bankruptcy proceedings at Turkey's IS Gida have resulted in the closure of 537 restaurants and the loss of 7,000 jobs IS Gida, the former operator of the KFC and Pizza Hut franchises in Turkey, has filed for bankruptcy after debt reached TR7.7 billion ($214 million), AGBI.com reported. The filing comes a month after the US-based owner of KFC and Pizza Hut terminated its franchise agreements with the Turkish company, state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
Turkish inflation eased again at the start of the year, offering succor to the country’s central bank as it lowers interest rates from their current heights, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were 42% higher on year in January, easing from 44% in December, figures from Turkey’s statistics authority showed Monday. That was a little higher than expected, according to a poll of economists compiled by FactSet, but still marks the eighth straight month of easing in the country’s rate of inflation, which reached a peak of more than 75% last May.
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