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.
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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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Turkey’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for a second straight meeting as a cycle of higher borrowing costs bears fruit in cooler price rises, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey said Thursday that it decided to reduce its one-week repo rate to 45% from 47.5%. This follows a cut from 50% last month, the start of a new phase of lower rates following a series of rapid rate hikes started in the summer of 2023 in a bid to combat rampant price rises.
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There were 1,723 Turkish companies that requested bankruptcy protection in 2024 as a result of outstanding debt stocks, surpassing the previous highest level recorded in 2019, Türkiye Today reported. Amid ongoing challenges such as tight monetary policies within the disinflation program, rising labor costs, and fluctuations in exchange rates, Turkish companies grappled with declining profits and unsustainable debt levels.
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Turkish inflation eased in December, likely reassuring the country’s central bank after it cut its key interest rate for the first time since 2023 last month, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were 44.4% higher on year in December, the lowest since June 2023, cooling from the 47.1% a month earlier, the country’s statistics agency Turkstat said Friday.
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Turkey’s annual inflation in December likely eased less than the central bank projected, just as policymakers have started to set the stage for a more accommodative stance in the new year, Bloomberg News reported. Annual growth in consumer prices slowed to 45.2% in December from 47.1% a month earlier, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. The data is due Friday. The central bank earlier raised its year-end estimate to 44% from 38% in November.
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