The Cabinet meeting resulted in easing some of the COVID-19 restrictions. The curfew will be imposed from 10.00 pm to 5.00 am on weekdays and Saturdays, while the full lockdown will be implemented on Sundays in June, President Erdogan announced after the meeting.
Restaurants will serve in-person between 7.00 am to 9.00 while they will only provide takeaway services on Sundays. Places such as cafes, tea houses, sports centers, funfairs will operate between 7.00 am and 9.00 pm except for Sundays within the frame of the COVID-19 measures.
Indoor and outdoor wedding ceremonies will be allowed in line with the COVID-19 rules.
In the meantime, Turkey and Greece agreed to recognize each other’s COVID-19 vaccination certificates, including Coronavac vaccines developed by the Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac. But Russia has extended the suspension of flights to the country until June 21.
On the other hand, the daily number of coronavirus cases declined to 6,493, while 122 people lost their lives in the last 24 hours. More than 29 million have inoculated so far and 12.4 million of them have received the second dose, according to the Health Ministry.
Looking at the money market, TRY strengthened against USD and EUR as the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew above expectations in Q1. Declined below 8.50 yesterday, USD/TRY hovers around 8.48-8.49 this morning. EUR/TRY, which was balanced at 10.38 yesterday, remains unchanged.
Gold prices continue to increase due to weakening USD and raising concerns over increasing inflation. Spot gold hits USD 1,913 per ounce. Brent crude rose by 1.63% and exceeded USD 70 with the potential increase in demand based on normalization steps after the pandemic.
DAILY AGENDA
The Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ICI) will release the manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for May. The ICI manufacturing PMI stood at 50.4 in April.
The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) will release Istanbul’s retail and wholesale prices for May. Retail prices increased by 1.01% in April compared to March and by 16.34% on annual basis.
>> 360-degree insights about China to be discussed at summit
Daily DUNYA and Mazars Denge will co-host the Relations with China after Covid-19 Online Summit on June 2, 2021, between 09:00 – 15:00 (GMT+3). The summit will focus on China’s takeaways from Covid-19, the experiences of Chinese companies in Turkey, the course of international inbound and outbound investments in China, increasing digitalization of China, and the changes and developments in China. For registration and to receive detailed information about the sessions, panelists and moderators, you can visit: https://eng.mazars.com.tr/.
