Macroeconomics

Greece's annual headline consumer price inflation stayed negative for a ninth straight month in December, data from the country's statistics service ELSTAT showed on Thursday.

The reading was -2.3% year-on-year from -2.1% in November.

The data also showed EU-harmonized inflation at -2.4% from -2.1% in the previous month.

The annual inflation rate remained stable at 2.1% in December last year as food prices rose by 3.24%, services by 2.69%, and non-food goods by 1.01%, according to data published on Thursday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). "Consumer prices in December 2020, compared to December 2019, increased by 2.1%.

The minimum wage will be indexed on Wednesday, in the Government meeting, by 3.1%, namely 70 lei gross, and the pensions will be increased this year at least by the inflation rate, Minister of Labor Raluca Turcan told private broadcaster Digi 24 Tuesday evening.

Turkey's current account balance posted a deficit of $4.06 billion in November 2020, the country's Central Bank revealed on Jan. 11. 

The 12-month rolling deficit thus reached $37.97 billion, the bank noted.

An Anadolu Agency survey last week showed that economists had expected a deficit of $3.4 billion.

In November, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed a new finance minister and central-bank governor. Subsequently, the country's monetary-policy framework underwent a long-overdue normalization (with a cumulative rate hike of 675 basis points in two months), and the lira regained 10% of its lost value by the end of the year.

The Turkish Central Bank is aware of its responsibility in reaching the medium-term inflation target of 5%, said Governor Naci Ağbal on Dec. 25.

The bank will implement all aspects of the inflation-targeting framework, he said at his presentation to the committee on planning and budget of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Turkey's central bank on Dec. 24 hiked its main interest rate by two percentage points to 17 percent and promised further monetary tightening to help tamp down soaring inflation.

The Turkish Central Bank on Dec. 24 announced an interest rate hike of two percentage points, above market expectations.

The bank's policy rate - also known as the one-week repo rate - rose to 17 percent, up from 15 percent, the bank said in a statement.

Alfred Kammer, director of the European Department at the International Monetary Fund, is calling on Greece to redouble its reform efforts to face the double challenge of the legacy of the austerity programs and the coronavirus pandemic. He is careful to note that the necessary reforms include the increased funding of well-targeted social protection.

Turkey's Central Bank governor on Dec. 16 said the risk of upward inflation will require a tight, decisive monetary policy stance in 2021, adding that it will be tightened if needed.