Turkish economy will catch over 7% growth this year, while leading economic indicators show that growth trend continues, according to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Speaking at a joint live broadcast, Erdogan said we’ll see decrease in inflation with August and interest rates will also drop in the coming period. “High interest rates will bring us high inflation,” Erdogan added. The annual inflation climbed 18.95% in July and hit 26-month high. The increase mainly stemmed from the food and energy prices, according to the Central Bank’s monthly price developments report. Electricity prices increased by 15.01% and natural gas prices hiked 9.84% in July while developments in producer prices and draught paved the way for food inflation to climb.
President Erdogan also evaluated wildfires. He said 187 forest fires have erupted in the past eight days, with 15 of them yet to be put out, adding that 51 helicopters and 20 planes are engaged in operations. Wildfires continue in Antalya, Mugla, Aydin, Isparta, Denizli and Hatay provinces. Moreover, forest fires jumped the Kemerkoy Thermal Power Plant in Mugla yesterday. Turkish Armed Forces evacuated personnel from the plant with a landing ship. Blazes at the plant, which had continued for 11 hours, were put out this morning, while fires in the surrounding area, which continues in some places, was intervened from air and land.
In the meantime, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to show upward trend. The number of daily coronavirus cases rose to 26,822, while the death toll reached 122. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the country will get around 13 million doses of BioNTech vaccines by August 9.
Looking at the money market with these developments, USD/TRY, which saw 8.29 this week, rose by 0.58% to 8.52 following purchases, while EUR/TRY surged by 0.67% to 10.10 this morning. Contrary to foreign exchange rates, spot gold dropped by 0.12% to USD 1,809 per ounce and brent crude decreased by 0.17% to USD 70.26 per barrel.
DAILY AGENDA
The Central Bank and the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) will release weekly money and banking statistics (2.30 pm).
