The minimum wage has been determined at TRY 8,506 for 2023. Its cost has been calculated as TRY 11,759.40 for an employer under the assumption that a 5% employer premium is used. Turkish Confederation of Employers’ Association (TISK) President Ozgur Burak Akkol said in a written statement that support of TRY 250 per employee will be provided to employers during the first half of 2023. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Wednesday that the minimum wage would be determined on the following day. He also reacted to the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TURK-IS), which represented the employee side at the Minimum Wage Determination Committee, proposed to TRY 9,000 for the 2023 minimum wage, and left the negotiations. The government and employer sides worked on the minimum wage at a meeting held at the Labor and Social Security Ministry and visited the Presidential Complex on Wednesday. The employee side, TURK-IS, neither attended the decision meeting nor the press conference held for the announcement of the minimum wage. President Erdogan stated that the minimum wage can be raised again in 2023 in case of a possible need.
The Central Bank’s (CB) Monetary Policy Committee (PPK) has decided to keep the policy rate (one-week repo auction rate) constant at 9% in line with market expectations. “The entire policy toolset, particularly funding channels, will be aligned with liraization targets,” the statement read. This was interpreted to mean that the bank will give weight to transactions of open market operations (OMOs) in terms of funding channels. Market specialists, who said the decline in funding through swap channels, one of whose legs is FX, will adversely affect CB reserves, stated that the need to strengthen reserves will be met with macroprudential policies again.
Turkey’s benchmark stock index ended yesterday at 5,447.23 points with an increase of 0.33%, hitting another all-time high. Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index, which also broke an intraday record of 5,515.67 points, gained 18.11 points from the previous close with a daily trading volume of TRY 103.5bn. The U.S. economy grew by 3.2% in the third quarter, above market expectations. Growth data, which showed that the U.S. economy maintains its power, has raised concerns over the continuation of aggressive monetary policy tightening by the Federal Reserve (Fed) and has decreased the risk appetite in the equity markets, according to analysts. They said that upward movement will continue in the domestic market. Analysts also stated that 5,350 points will be the support level and 5,500 points will be the resistance level for the BIST 100 index, in technical terms.
As part of the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF) backed program to be implemented to ease the access for the business world to financing, 14 different packages have been prepared and will be opened for use as of January, according to Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati. Nebati said the correct usage of loans in line with purpose will be audited. “We’ll end the year with a targeted inflation of around 65%,” he added.
DAILY AGENDA
The number of established companies rose by 5.8% from 12,443 to 13,169 and the number of liquidated firms fell by 3.4% from 1,706 to 1,648 in November, compared to the previous month, according to the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB).
The Financial Services Confidence Index increased by 10.2 points to 164.9 in December, as compared to November, according to the CB.
Meanwhile…
>> The Central Bank’s international net reserves surged by USD 1.37bn to USD 28.13bn in the week ending on December 16, compared to the previous week, the highest level since December 12, 2021. The bank’s total reserves rose by USD 747m to USD 129.51 bn in the same period, the highest level since January 2015.
>> Residents’ FX deposit accounts declined by USD 2.42bn in the week ending on December 16, compared to the previous week, according to parity-adjusted data from the Central Bank.
>> Foreigners’ net equity, government debt securities, and corporate bond outflows amounted to USD 195.1m, USD 3.1m, and USD 3.8m, respectively, in the week ending on December 16, according to the Central Bank.
>> The banking sector’s total loan volume increased by TRY 71.92bn from TRY 7.34tr to TRY 7.41tr and its total deposits rose by TRY 9.63bn, or 1.2%, to TRY 8.73tr in the week ending on December 16, compared to the previous week, according to Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK).
