The Central Bank

The Central Bank has announced that it will scrap the implementation regarding securities maintenance based on loan growth while raising the monthly maximum interest rates to be charged for credit cards. 

The bank said it is considering terminating the securities maintenance practice "in a short while."

The monthly increase in retail prices in Istanbul slowed from 4.07 percent in February to 3.93 percent in March, according to data from the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO).

On the back of the March reading, the annual inflation in Türkiye's megacity accelerated from 76.58 percent to 74.22 percent.

Prices rose by 15.42 percent compared with the end of 2023.

The number of people with unpaid consumer loans and credit card payments declined by 11.6 percent last year from 2022 to 1.32 million, according to data Encazip compiled.

In 2022, nearly 1.5 million people failed to make consumer loans and credit card payments, according to the numbers of the Turkish Banks Association's (TBB) Risk Center.

The real sector confidence index increased from 102 in February to 103.5 in March, the Central Bank has said.

Any figure above the 100-mark indicates optimism among businesses.

The sub-index of the general business situation surged from 89.5 to 91.1, the bank's data showed on March 22.

The Central Bank has raised the monthly maximum interest rate on credit card cash withdrawals from 4.42 percent to 5 percent.

The bank's decision, which aimed at curbing credit card spending, was published in the Official Gazette on March 16 and came into force.

Excessive domestic demand that has caused higher inflation will disappear around the second and third quarter of this year, Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has said.

The Central Bank is taking additional tightening measures, the minister said in an interview with private broadcaster CNN Türk. "We are fully supporting this."

Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has reiterated his "full support" for the country's Central Bank, as the bank announced additional monetary tightening measures to fight inflation.

The meeting will be held at 12:30, in the building of the General Secretariat of the President of the Republic, announced the Office for Media Relations of the President of the Republic.
The topic is the situation in Kosovo and Metohija.

Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek and Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan are scheduled to travel to the United States later this week to meet investors.

As part of the "Investor Day" event to be held on Jan. 11, Erkan will make a presentation to foreign investors on monetary policy and inflation.

The Central Bank has said that it will maintain its reserve build-up strategy and ensure continuation of the stable uptrend in international reserves in 2024.