Turkey Wealth Fund (TWF) hit the headlines lately with the appointment of Salim Arda Ermut as the new general manager, who also served as Board Member during the former Minister of Treasury and Finance Berat Albayrak’s term. The new management will give its first test with the renewal of the EUR 1bn syndicated loan, it got from the international banks in 2019, according to sources spoke to Bloomberg. The loan will fall due within 4 days (March 15). Anonymous sources stated that they do not expect any problems with the renewal, as the loan is largely under the Treasury guarantee, while TWF hasn’t made any statement yet.
TWF is a USD 33bn sovereign wealth fund owned by the government. Numerous companies operating in the crucial and strategic sectors developing the country, such as financial services, energy, transportation and logistics, mining technology and telecom, agriculture and food, real estate and gambling are under the management of TWF. However, TWF’s net profits fell by 48.3% to TRY 8.854 bn in 2019 compared to the previous year. Moreover, its non-financial sector debts increased by 46% to TRY 284m, according to the latest annual report released by TWF. We will see the how the fund is doing under the new management…
Looking at today, as the most critical data of the day, the current account posted a deficit of USD 1.8bn in January, according to the Central Bank (CB). The current account deficit fell by USD 166m in January, compared to the same period of the previous year and these figures brought the 12-month rolling deficit to USD 36.6bn.
USD/TRY is traded at 7.44, while EUR/TRY stands at 8.91. Foreign exchange (FX) rates reached an increase of about 3% in the first trading day of the week, however, FX rates depreciated following the decline in yields of U.S. Treasury securities on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Also, current situation of U.S. securities along with USD’s weakening and the USD 1.9tr coronavirus aid package to be signed by the U.S. President Biden have paved the way for gold prices to reach its highest level since March 3. Accordingly, spot gold is traded at USD 1,738 at international markets.
Moreover, international oil prices have started to increase as oil stocks in the U.S. decreased above expectations. Brent crude saw USD 68.7, while U.S. crude oil exceeded USD 65 this morning.
DAILY AGENDA
The Ministry of Industry and Technology will release productivity statistics for Q4 2020.
The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) and the Central Bank will release weekly money and banking statistics (2.30 pm).
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