Unemployment and cost of livings threaten not only the present, the future as well and the country needs to take serious steps and to proceed, according to Simone Kaslowski, the President of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD). Speaking at the 23rd Enterprise and Business Summit held by the Turkish Enterprise and Business Confederation (TURKONFED) under the ‘Time to Transform’ theme, “We undergo a process in which unemployment figures rapidly increase and the rate of seasonally adjusted composite measure of labor underutilization reaches 28%,” said Kaslowski, stressing that the extension of short time working allowance is a positive step. “We also believe that supports towards unemployment should continue,” the head of Turkey’s biggest business NGO added.
Kaslowski also mentioned the country’s soft belly, the inflation problem. The monetary policy should be predictable and be managed transparently in a disciplined and the Central Bank should use all kinds of instruments for the inflation targeting, he stated. “If we fail in fight against the inflation, we can’t solve other macroeconomic problems,” Kaslowski noted.
In terms of inflation, the Central Bank will launch its second Inflation Report for 2021 tomorrow with a press conference to be held on a digital platform. Central Bank Governor Sahap Kavcioglu will answer the questions at the meeting. The year-end inflation was estimated between 7.3% to 11.5% (9.4% in average) in the previous report.
Looking at the money markets, foreign exchange rates, which has been falling since the beginning of the week, started the day at yesterday’s levels. USD/TRY appreciates at 8.21-8.22, while EUR/TRY is traded at 9.92.
Although oil prices rely on strong recovery in global fuel demand of OPEC countries, they dropped with the adverse impact of increase in U.S. crude oil stocks above expectations and increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in India. Accordingly, brent crude decreased to USD 66.70 per barrel this morning.
Gold prices also fell due to high course of the U.S. Treasury bond yields, while investors wait a clue following FED’s monetary policy announcement. Spot gold is traded at USD 1,767 after it saw the lowest level since April 20 at USD 1,765 at first transactions.
DAILY AGENDA
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will receive Rifat Hisarciklioglu, President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB) (4.45 pm).
The Central Bank will release international reserves and foreign currency data for March.
Borsa Istanbul companies Akbank, Aksigorta and Goodyear will release financial statements.
