BY ALAATTIN AKTAS The current account deficit (CAD) broke the record in the republic’s history in January and reached USD 9.84bn. The previous record was broken in March 2011 when the current account balance posted a USD 9.4bn deficit. The annualized CAD, meanwhile, hit USD 51.7bn, according to the Central Bank. Who knows how many...
Author: Alaattin Aktas (Alaattin Aktas)
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Dollar lost its savings instrument edge
BY ALAATTIN AKTAS The policy to hold the hike in foreign exchange (FX) rates, therefore curbing inflation, has frustrated those who relied on the dollar as a saving instrument. The dollar completely lost its savings instrument feature in the last six months. USD/TRY, which hit 17.99 in August 2022, averaged 18.82 in February 2023. USD/TRY...
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Share of compensation of employees in the GVA hits a 25-year low
BY ALAATTIN AKTAS The share of compensation of employees in the Gross Value Added (GVA) THE was down from 30.1% to 26.5% in 2022, compared to the previous year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). The share of compensation of employees in the GVA has never been as low as 2022 over the past...
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A big slowdown in the rate of interest reduction!
BY ALAATTIN AKTAS The policy rate of the Central Bank was cut by half a point yesterday. It is also possible to read this half-point as a great slowdown in the rate of interest reduction. While the lowest movements were even one point, we witnessed this time that it was halved. Considering it as a...
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51% of apartments were constructed in 2001 and after
BY ALAATTIN AKTAS The cost of the earthquake has been tried to be revealed. We don’t even know exactly how many lives have been lost. Maybe we will never know the exact figure. There are collapsed and heavily damaged buildings. There are also buildings which don’t look bad but can’t be resided in. We can’t...
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Account owners head toward KKM again
BY ALAATTIN AKTAS Savers started to rapidly close their FXprotected TRY deposit accounts (KKM) after FX rates hadn’t increased for months and the interest rate cap had fallen to 12% following the policy rate cut to 9%. The total amount in KKM dropped by TRY 48bn in the last week of December and TRY 45bn...
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Where was TRY 685bn spent?
BY ALAATTIN AKTAS A tax, which is known as the earthquake tax in the public, has been applied after the earthquakes on August 17, and November 12, 1999. It was supposed to be applied to communication services, and it was named the special communication tax. The tax period, which was stipulated to be implemented until...
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Annual foreign trade deficit reaches USD 114bn
BY ALAATTIN AKTAS Turkey hasn’t made a good start to the new year in terms of foreign trade. Exports increased by 10% from USD 17.6bn to USD 19.4bn in January, compared to the same month last year. Imports jumped 21% from USD 27.8bn to USD 33.7bn in the same period. Thus, the foreign trade deficit...
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Everyone plays a waiting game
BY ALAATTIN AKTAS Turkey is jogging on to the elections. We will go to the polls in mid-May, but there is a lot of uncertainty. It is debatable whether President Erdogan will be a candidate once again if the parliament does not use its dissolution power. The parliament can only use this power with the...
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It’ll be enough to manage until the election!
BY ALAATTIN AKTAS The election will be held in four or five months. A lot of promises will be given. Although it’s normal if the opposition gives promises, weird things happen in Turkey and the government can show the same approach. But there are also calculations made by the government. Their basic starting point is...