The Taliban forces, which seized control of important cities one by one in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of the U.S. from the country, have recently took over the capital Kabul. There was a chaos at the Kabul Airport after those, who tried to leave the country, broke through barricades. Speaking to Reuters, the top Turkish security sources said the option to take over Kabul Airport after what happened yesterday has been off the table. The country held talks with the U.S. and NATO on this issue for a while. “At the point reached, there is total chaos at Kabul airport. Order has been completely disrupted. At this stage, the process of Turkish soldiers taking up control of the airport has automatically been dropped,” said one of the sources. “However, in the event that the Taliban asks for technical support, Turkey can provide security and technical support at the airport,” he added. Turkey has started to evacuate its citizens from Afghanistan as of yesterday.
On the economy side, Turkey has started to build comprehensive free trade agreements (FTA) to include services, investments, and public procurement in order to increase exports, strengthen the competitiveness of the industry and attract foreign capital, according to Trade Minister Mehmet Mus. In this context comprehensive FTA negotiations continue with Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia in the Asia-Pacific region. “While negotiations with Georgia and Moldova continue to expand the scope of the FTAs, we continue negotiations with Ukraine, making efforts to reach a result,” said the trade minister. The country also seeks opportunities for pacts with Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico in Latin America, while it strives to further develop collaboration with the U.S. and China to create new areas of cooperation.
Looking at the money market, USD/TRY which saw below 8.45 in the first trading day of the week, continued to fall to 8.37 and completed the day at 8.43 yesterday. USD/TRY is traded at 8.44 this morning, while EUR/TRY hovers around 9.90.
Gold prices increased in parallel with the fact that the delta variant reduced risk appetite. Spot gold rose by 0.38% to USD 1,793 per ounce. Oil prices started to show an upward trend this morning after they fell by 0.7% yesterday. Brent crude increased by 0.80% to USD 69.58 per barrel.
DAILY AGENDA
The private sector’s total outstanding loans received from abroad surged by USD 486m to USD 174bn in June, compared to the end of 2020, according to the Central Bank.
