The Cabinet will convene today under the presidency of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following his dense diplomacy traffic last week. The normalization and vaccination process will be on the carpet in the light of the Scientific Advisory Board’s recommendations. The next period in COVID-19 measures will decided and Health Minister Fahrettin Koca will make a detailed presentation about the number of COVID-19 cases and inoculation.
Another topic to be discussed at the Cabinet meeting will be tourism. Extension of the value-added tax (VAT) support for the country’s tourism industry and flight restrictions with Russia will be evaluated. Other issues regarding the foreign policy will be discussed in the Cabinet include the undertaking the security of the Kabul Airport, which came up during the Erdogan-Biden meeting during the NATO Summit.
On the other hand, the People’s Democratic Party’s (HDP) closure case is another agenda item of the country today. The Constitutional Court of Turkey (AYM) will decide on the indictment. The indictment will be sent to HDP afterwards for advocacy in case of its approval by the AYM.
Looking at the money markets, USD/TRY, which successively rose last week, hovers around 8.74-8.76 this morning. EUR/TRY exceeded 10.40.
Oil prices surged as Iran’s return to the markets is delayed with the increased demand and nuclear talks took longer than expected. Brent crude approached to USD 74 per barrel again. Gold prices also climbed after a 6% decrease last week as decline in the U.S. Treasury bonds made the yellow metal attractive. Spot gold saw USD 1,774 per ounce this morning.
DAILY AGENDA
The Agricultural Input Price Index (Agricultural-IPI) surged by 22.15% in April, compared to the same month of the previous year, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). Agricultural-IPI rose by 1.71% on a monthly basis.
The non-domestic producer price index (ND-PPI) increased by 39.60% in May, compared to the same month of the previous year, according to TurkStat. ND-PPI monthly rose by 4.69%.
The net international investment position (IIP) posted a USD 343.5bn deficit at the end of April, compared to the end of 2020, according to the Central Bank. The net IIP indicates the gap between the country’s external assets and liabilities.
The Ministry of Treasury and Finance will release the Central Bank’s gross debt stock statistics (5.30 pm).
IN OUR MAGAZINE THIS WEEK:
>> On the cover: This week on our cover, we have Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), the global real estate services company, which entered the Turkish market in 2008 after acquiring the rental and management functions of Alkas Danismanlik. If you want to know about commercial real estate in Turkey, the people with the answers, square-inch by square-inch, are JLL Turkey Co-CEOs. You can read the interview on pages 14 and 15.
>> Professor Ilter Turan: A new Cold War? P. 10.
>> Q&A: Erdal Aksoy, Founder and Chairman of Aksoy Holding, Former President of Anavatan Party Istanbul Branch. P. 11.
>> Turkey gains leverage with UK FTA. You can read the details in our ‘Diplomacy’ section on page 12.
>> Startup: Avokadio aims to prevent chronic diseases through breath analysis. P. 16
>> Energy: Palmet eyes new instruments to sell electricity at fixed prices. P. 22.
>> Our foreign policy columnist Zeynep Gurcanli examined the ‘Outcomes of the Biden meeting’ on page 24.
>> Do not miss Time Out’s alternatives for the week.
