What matters on Wednesday, February 16

The Cabinet will convene under the presidency of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Ukraine-Russia crisis, the Value-added Tax (VAT) reduction, the fight against inflation, electricity prices, COVID-19 and foreign policy issues will be discussed at the meeting.

2021 was a powerful year for Turkey in terms of economic activities as financial statements were either in accordance with estimations or exceeded them, according to Soner Kuru, Assistant General Manager of Marketing at Marbas Menkul. The inflation environment doesn’t fully satisfy investors when the profitability of the banks is compared with their equity capital, although Turkish banks had high profitability last year, ha said. “The total equity capital of the top four private banks listed on Borsa Istanbul amounted to TRY 305bn while their net profit totaled TRY 49bn. We think that a 16% return on equity won’t be enough to change the picture formed in previous periods,” Kuru added. 

On the other hand, figures in the country’s manufacturing industry are more optimistic. The profitability ratio of Koc Holding’s automotive subsidiaries Otokar, Tofas, and Turk Traktor averaged 63% and their price-earnings ratio saw 10. “We are in a period when financial statements aren’t fully reflected on prices. The pressure environment which is formed due to the global conditions also affects our market,” Kuru noted.

Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin, and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal will pay a visit to Palestine and Israel on February 16-17. The delegation, which will be received by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, will hold talks with the top officials in Palestine. The delegation will discuss preparations for the visit to be paid by Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Turkey and will hold political talks in Israel. 

DAILY AGENDA

The private sector’s total outstanding loans received from abroad dropped by USD 3.6bn to USD 169.4bn in December 2021, as compared to the end of 2020, according to the Central Bank.

The Central Bank will release the Residential Property Price Index for December 2021 (2.30 pm).

The Cabinet meeting will be held at 3.00 PM.

READ SELECTED ARTICLE FROM OUR MAGAZINE

>> Diplomacy emerged in the Ukraine Crisis – but who won?

Our Foreign Policy Columnist Zeynep Gurcanli analyses who won in the Ukraine diplomacy process.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.