Turkey's Central Bank

Turkey's central bank posted a 2023 loss of 818.2 billion lira ($25.25 billion), showed its balance sheet published in the Official Gazette on Sunday, on the back of steep loss stemming from the "KKM" foreign exchange-protected deposit scheme.

Inflation in Turkey soared to a staggering 68.5% year-on-year in March, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute Turkstat. This alarming surge in prices has intensified concerns over the country's economic stability.

Turkey's central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates by 500 basis points to 50% on Thursday, citing a deteriorating inflation outlook and pledged to tighten further if significant and persistent deterioration in inflation is foreseen.

Turkey's central bank on Saturday raised the maximum interest rate on credit card cash withdrawals to 5% from 4.42%, according to a decision published in the Official Gazette, in a move aimed at additional tightening.

Turkey's central bank left its key interest rate unchanged at 45% on Thursday, pausing a series of aggressive rate hikes aimed at taming high inflation.

The central bank said it was keeping the benchmark one-week repo rate on hold, according to a statement. It was the bank's first interest rate decision under its newly appointed governor, Fatih Karahan.

President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday appointed Hafize Gaye Erkan, a finance executive in the United States, to head Turkey's central bank, which is widely expected to reverse course and tighten policy after years of rate cuts and a simmering cost-of-living crisis.

The Turkish lira, which fell today by more than five percent, hit a new historic low against the dollar ten days after the re-election of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reported AFP.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that interest rates will fall as long as he is in power, and that inflation will decline with them, repeating his unorthodox views.

Erdogan was speaking in Istanbul weeks before a presidential election on May 14. Some anticipate a shift to more orthodox policies after the vote.

The Central Bank has not changed its 2023 inflation forecast and maintained its year-end consumer price index at 22.3 percent.

Turkish inflation rose year-on-year in June to a 23-year high of 78.62%, its acceleration for the 13th consecutive month boosted by the weakness of the local currency (the Turkish lira) and the negative effects of Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, which are expressed in a continued strong increase in the prices of raw materials.