While the international markets were closed due to the Christmas holiday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the regulation regarding the victims of delayed pension age (EYT) will be finalized in January. Additionally, a new natural gas reserve was discovered in the Black Sea and the Central Bank released its 2023 Monetary and Exchange Rate Document, on the last week of 2022.
Within the scope of the EYT regulation, which seeks no age obligation, 2.25 million people will directly retire. The Treasury and Finance Ministry will put into use a new loan package backed by the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF) for employers towards severance payments. A new social insurance premium incentive will be implemented for people who will continue to work by paying social security support premiums after their retirement.
With the discovery of a new reserve of 58 billion cubic meters in the Caycuma-1 well located in the Black Sea, the total gas reserves of Turkey increased from 540 billion cubic meters to 710 billion cubic meters.
The Central Bank maintained its medium-term inflation target of 5% set jointly with the government, according to the 2023 Monetary and Exchange Rate Document. The bank reiterated the use of all available instruments to achieve and maintain price stability. The weight of the lira in both assets and liabilities of the banking system will continue to be raised permanently. “The liraization target in deposits is set at 60% for the first half of 2023,” the document read. The bank also underlined the continuation of the floating FX rate regime, with FX rates determined under free market conditions in line with supply and demand. “The bank has no commitment to any FX rate level and will not conduct FX buying or selling transactions to determine the level or direction of the exchange rates,” the document said.
This week, the December inflation to be announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Tuesday morning. The market expects a decline in the December data with the base effect. TurkStat will also release the domestic producer price index for December on the same day. The Central Bank, meanwhile, will announce the Real Effective Exchange Rate for December on Wednesday. The Trade Ministry will announce the results of the foreign trade expectation survey for the first quarter of 2023 on Friday.
The legislative proposals to approve international agreements signed between Turkey and different countries, the constitutional amendment on the headscarf and protection of family, legislative proposals for economic regulations, and the 7th Judicial Package are among the regulations to be submitted and/or discussed by the Parliament this week.
Parliamentary group meetings for political parties, which have not been held for a week, will be held this week.
DAILY AGENDA
No important data will be released this morning.
Meanwhile…
>> The Istanbul Wage Earners Cost of Living Index (WECLI), which indicates the movement of retail prices in Istanbul, jumped 92.97% in December, compared to the same month last year, according to the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO). The Wholesale Price Index, which reflects wholesale prices in the city, climbed by 81.31% in the same period. The Istanbul WECLI rose by 2.94%, and the Wholesale Price Index increased by 3.71% in December, month over month. The WECLI is considered a preliminary signaling indicator for overall inflation in Turkey.
>> Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 Index jumped 196.57%, or 3,651.51 points to 5,509.16 points in 2022, as compared to 2021, according to daily EKONOMI.
>> Turkey reduced the price of natural gas used by power plants by 12.73%, while consumer gas prices and the price of gas used by industry remained unchanged, according to the state energy company BOTAS.
