Hearth breaking images showing hundreds of Afghans trying to get on a U.S. aircraft while it is moving hit the news agencies around the world yesterday. The Taliban forces entered the capital Kabul on August 15 and took control of Afghanistan for the first time in 20 years, after the U.S.-led foreign forces occupied the country in 2001. With the collapse of the Afghan government, attention has turned to ensuring the safety of civilians and evacuees. The Kabul airport was the only official route to leave the country after the Taliban took control of all the major border crossings. The U.S. Department of Defense stated that the U.S. forces worked with Turkish and international troops to clear the Kabul Airport to allow evacuation flights to resume. The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone call with his European counterparts including Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to discuss the recent developments in the country. The U.S had previously said USD 500m can be allocated to Turkey to deal with the increasing illegal migration of Afghans to Turkey. Neither the amount is enough to combat economic consequences of Afghan movement, nor it will be limited to economy. Unfortunately, Turkey will likely to face social problems with increasing number of Afghans as tensions with Syrian refugees taking place in the country giving signals of it
Let’s go back to the economy’s endless nightmare, the money markets. USD/TRY, which closed the day at 8.45 after it fell to 8.43 yesterday, lost 2.3% value under these developments. EUR/TRY saw below 10.00 again. This morning, USD/TRY is traded at 8.46 with a slight increase, while EUR/TRY hovers around 9.95.
Gold prices slightly decreased after the strong course of USD. Spot gold is traded at USD 1.792 per ounce, the highest level in the last one week. Oil prices declined by 0.53% to USD 69.14 with the impact of the news that investors and OPEC+ won’t raise the demand soon despite calls of the U.S.
DAILY AGENDA
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend the opening ceremony of the 15th Defense Industry Fair (IDEF 2021) (2.00 pm).
The Central Bank will release the Residential Property Price Index for June (2.30 pm). The index increased by 3.9% on a monthly basis and 29.1% on an annual basis in May.
The Ministry of Treasury and Finance will reopen 9-year (3,374 days) maturity semiannually fixed coupon bond and 10-year (3,570 days) semiannually CPI indexed government bond, while it will also directly sell a 2-year lease certificate.
