Turkey

Turkey’s central bank raised its inflation forecasts for this year and through 2026, bringing them closer to market expectations after price gains exceeded estimates for two consecutive months, Bloomberg News reported. The latest outlook shows officials see inflation finishing this year at 44% and then reaching 21% by the end of 2025, up from their previous estimates of 38% and 14%, respectively. The revision, “though not ideal, is not a serious deviation” and the bank expects price growth at 38% in March, Governor Fatih Karahan said Friday in the capital Ankara.
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Turkey’s central bank extended its interest-rate pause for a seventh month and adopted a more hard-line stance on the course of inflation, pushing back expectations for a rate cut into next year, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Committee under Governor Fatih Karahan kept the one-week repo rate at 50%, in line with almost all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey. The policymakers had appeared to soften their position last month, prompting analysts to believe a rate cut could be imminent, but Thursday’s statement reversed the course.
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Turkey’s central bank will probably discuss interest-rate cuts at its November meeting, but there is no pre-determined path for monetary policy and the decision will be driven by economic data between now and then, Bloomberg News reported. The bank will focus primarily on inflation, which authorities predict will gradually slow to 38% by the end of this year, compared with 52% in August, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
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Turkey’s central bank indicated it’s in no hurry to start cutting interest rates after leaving borrowing costs on hold for a sixth straight month, though suggested such a move is getting closer after dropping a reference to potential tightening, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Fatih Karahan, kept the one-week repo rate at 50% on Thursday. “Monetary policy tools will be used effectively in case a significant and persistent deterioration in inflation is foreseen,” the MPC said in a statement accompanying the decision.
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It is hard for Dogan Duman to see how he can keep his garment factory in central Turkey running much longer, even after firing a third of his staff to cut costs that have soared for companies nationwide, generating a wave of bankruptcies and closures, Reuters reported. Idle sewing machines are pushed to the side of his factory floor in Corum, where outside "For Sale" signs and padlocked gates dot the small city's once-buzzing industrial zone.
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Turkey’s central bank extended its interest-rate pause for a fifth month and said it was placing even more importance on expectations for prices before discussing easing, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Fatih Karahan, kept the one-week repo rate at 50% on Tuesday. “The alignment of inflation expectations and pricing behavior with projections has gained relative importance for the disinflation process,” the MPC said. The lira slipped 0.3% to 33.84 per US dollar at 3:30 pm in Istanbul.
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