The new day starts with a new appointment. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appointed Nureddin Nebati Turkey’s new Treasury and Finance Minister early this morning, accepting (former) Minister Lutfi Elvan’s request to step down. The appointment was made under Articles 104 and 106 of the Constitution. Lutfi Elvan was appointed the Treasury and Finance Minister following Berat Albayrak’s resignation in November 2020 – at that point, Naci Agbal was also appointed the Governor of the Central Bank. Agbal was dismissed from his position in March 2021. Behind closed doors, political actors were discussing that Lutfi Elvan was disturbed by the low interest rate policy.
The Central Bank intervened in the market, initiating selling transactions for the first time in seven years to prevent high volatility in foreign exchange rates and TRY devaluation. The government sold off USD 1bn in total at the spot and futures markets, according to Bloomberg HT.
Although USD/TRY fell below 12.00 with the support of the Central Bank’s intervention, it couldn’t remain steady and returned to 13.30-13.50 yesterday. USD/TRY is traded at 13.35 this morning.
Today, the Central Bank will convene with investors and economists in line with the bank’s schedule. Apart from technical discussions with investors, economists and analysts, the bank expects to discuss a variety of topics, including the overall macroeconomy overall, monetary policy, financial markets, and the banking sector. Questions regarding the details of the bank’s intervention in the market, the reasons for the appointment of a new Treasury and Finance Minister, inflation, and the new economy policy will likely be asked by economists and investors. As a result, markets will focus on the outcome of the meeting.
Borsa Istanbul’s BIST 100 index rose by 2.64% to 1,809.65 points, an all-time high, as of Wednesday’s close.
DAILY AGENDA
The Central Bank will convene with investors, economists, and analysts via video conference. The first meeting will be held at 11.00 AM with domestic investors and the second meeting will be held at 4.00 PM with foreign investors.
Trade Minister Mehmet Mus will announce preliminary foreign trade figures for November (11.30 am).
The Central Bank and the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) will release weekly monetary and banking statistics (2.30 pm).
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