Today’s the day that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is meeting U.S. President Joe Biden. Erdogan arrived in Brussels yesterday to attend the NATO summit, where the two leaders will meet on the sidelines. The NATO leaders will discuss the path that the military alliance will follow over the next decade in the face of challenges such as China, Russia, and cyber threats.
Biden and Erdogan will have only 45 minutes to talk about a busy agenda. As the U.S. National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan previously said, both leaders will look at their ‘significant differences’ and discuss regional issues such as the Eastern Mediterranean, Syria, Iraq, Nagorno-Karabakh. On the other hand, the role that Turkey will play in Afghanistan, as the U.S. withdraws from the country, will be the part of the meeting’s agenda. Turkey has ‘officially’ proposed to undertake the security and operation of the Kabul International Airport in Afghanistan. Our foreign policy columnist Zeynep Gurcanli has examined the ‘Afghanistan issue’ in our magazine this week.
At the press conference held before Erdogan’s flight to Brussels, the president announced that the country inked a new USD 3.6bn worth swap deal with China. Thus, the total amount of swap agreements with China has reached USD 6bn. President Erdogan also said the Central Bank’s reserves have seen ‘USD 100bn’ after the swap transaction with China, which veteran economists do not agree with. We will look into this in the coming days.
Looking at today’s markets, foreign exchange rates to be driven the by outcomes of the Biden-Erdogan meeting, decline this morning. USD/TRY fell by 0.63% to 8.34, while EUR/TRY decreased by 0.76% to 10.10.
Oil prices continue to draw near its highest levels in the last two years as the demand outlook recovers due to easing travel restrictions by the support of increasing COVID-19 inoculation. Brent crude is traded at 73.31.
On the one hand, gold prices saw its lowest level in the last 10 days, investors await the monetary policy meeting of the Federal Reserve (Fed). Spot gold decreased by 1.05% to USD 1,857 per ounce, the lowest level since June 4.
DAILY AGENDA
The 12-month rolling current account deficit reached USD 32.7bn in April, according to the Central Bank. The current account posted a deficit of USD 1.7bn in this period, a decrease of USD 3.5bn, compared to the same month of the previous year.
The Producer Price Index of Agricultural Products (Agriculture-PPI) increased by 20.20% in May, compared to the same month of the previous year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). Agriculture-PPI dropped by 0.43% on a monthly basis.
House sales rose by 16.2% to 59,166 in May, compared to the same month of the previous year, according to TurkStat.
IN OUR MAGAZINE THIS WEEK:
>> On the cover: This week on our cover, we take a look inside DHL Express Turkey’s new EUR 135m facility at Istanbul Airport. The center, which has not yet been officially opened, boasts some of the most advanced technology in the sector and will, according to DHL Express Turkey’s newly-appointed CEO, raise the bar for global logistics. The global company is celebrating its 40th anniversary in Turkey. You can read the exclusive visit and interview by daily DUNYA’s Managing Editor Handan Sema Ceylan in pages 13-15.
>> Professor Ilter Turan looks into the ‘Biden-Erdogan’ meeting. You can read the details on page 10.
>> Q&A: Omer Aras, Chairman of the Board of Directors of QNB Finansbank. P. 11.
>> North Macedonia calls for investment in free zones. You can read the details in our ‘Diplomacy’ section prepared by our Executive Editor Husniye Gungor on page 12.
>> Startup: Yolda.com raises USD 1.9m to launch Europe operations. P. 16.
>> Energy: EVs are part of the network. P. 22.
>> Zeynep Gurcanli: The Afghanistan issue… P. 24.
>> Do not miss Time Out’s alternatives for the week.
