The Price Stability Committee convened for the second time under the presidency of Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati in order to discuss inflation developments in 2021 and the measures to be taken as part of the country’s fight against inflation.
The influence of positive expectations’ on foreign exchange (FX) rates have been observed after the measure package was announced on December 20, according to Nebati. “The transitivity of FX rates on inflation is known by all. We’ll decrease inflation by developing instruments such as the new FX-protected TRY deposit accounts which will increase TRY’s attraction,” Nebati said. The government bodies will act in full coordination to fight against inflation. “Our ultimate goal is to catch permanent low levels in inflation,” Nebati noted.
The Central Bank also linked the FX transitivity with inflation, according to its latest price developments report. “The developments in FX rates reflected on the increase in many items of inflation, while producer prices driven pressures were strongly felt as a result of TRY’s devaluation,” the report said. The bank also noted that the annual inflation rose in all main groups and the most significant contribution to inflation increase was made by the basic goods and food subgroups.
On the other hand, Turkey reported nearly 55,000 coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time over the past nine months with the adverse impact of the Omicron variant. The number of daily coronavirus cases reached 54,724 while the death toll saw 137 in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry. The number of daily confirmed cases and the positive rate have more than doubled over the past two weeks. The number of new cases totaled 18,762 on December 20, while the positive rate was 5.34 for per 100 people. The positive rate hit 12.16 per 100 people on January 3. Turkey ranks 8th among 192 states with the highest number of COVID-19 cases by over 9.65 million in total, according to the Coronavirus Resource Center of John Hopkins.
DAILY AGENDA
No important data will be released today.
Meanwhile…
>> Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based real effective exchange rate (REER) fell from 54.33 to 47.82 in December, compared to the previous month, according to the Central Bank. The figure saw the lowest level since 1994 when the data started to be recorded.
>> The net FX deficit of non-financial companies amounted to USD 116.38bn in September 2021, according to the Central Bank.
>> The country’s mining exports rose by 40% on an annual basis and reached a historic high of USD 5.9bn in 2021, according to Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Donmez.
>> The country’s construction industry nearly doubled the volume of its overseas projects to USD 29.3bn in 2021, according to Trade Minister Mehmet Mus.
