Financial crises

The Turkish automotive sector's export revenues may climb to $34 billion this year, according to a report by KPMG.

Last year, the local industry produced 1.3 million vehicles and sales on the local market amounted to 827,000 while 970,000 vehicles were shipped to foreign markets.

After eight months of deceleration, the annual inflation rate has climbed from 38.2 percent in June to 47.83 percent in July, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) showed on Aug. 3.

Consumer prices rose by 9.49 percent last month from June, when the monthly inflation was 3.92 percent.

Greece has rebounded since the 2009-2018 financial crisis that saw real GDP decline by 25 percent. Modest growth began to return in 2019 and unemployment dropped from its crisis peak of 35 percent in 2013 to 12 percent in 2022, the State Department said in the 2023 Investment Climate Statements.

German consumer confidence rose heading into August, a key survey showed yesrerday, as once red-hot inflation looked to be on the way back down.

Pollster GfK said its forward-looking survey of around 2,000 people rose to minus 24.4 points in August from minus 25.2 points in July.

After delivering a 250 bps rate hike last week to increase the one-week repo auction rate to 17.5 percent, the Central Bank has announced a series of measures on selective credits and quantitative tightening.

The Hellenic Fiscal Council is predicting a slightly higher growth rate than the Stability Program, 2.6% against 2.3% for 2023, while for 2024 it is more pessimistic, expecting GDP to increase by 2.8% against the government forecast for 3%.

Private debt in Greece remains stable and lies below the European Union average, Deputy Finance Minister Haris Theocharis said in Parliament on Friday.

Inflation expectations for the end of 2023 deteriorated from 38.55 percent to 43.8 percent, the Central Bank's monthly survey showed on July 14.

Respondents to the survey also raised their 12-month ahead inflation forecast from 30.6 percent in June to 33.2 percent in July.

Consumer prices are expected to increase by 3.8 percent in July from June, the survey showed.

The Public Debt Management Agency is launching a two-pronged attack on Greece's national debt.

The Turkish Central Bank's international reserves rose from $98.5 billion on May 26 to $108.6 billion on June 30, while the net reserves improved by $14.2 billion over the same period, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said on July 11.