Latest news with #TayyipErdogan
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Turkey's Q1 economic growth seen at 2.3%, full-year at 3%: Reuters poll
ISTANBUL, May 27 (Reuters) - Turkey's economy is expected to have grown by 2.3% in the first quarter and by 3% for 2025 as a whole, lower than government forecasts, a Reuters poll showed on Tuesday. The big emerging market economy expanded by 3% in the fourth quarter and 3.2% in 2024 a whole. Estimates of ten economists in the Reuters poll for the first quarter ranged from 1.5% to 3.2%, with the median at 2.3% gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Economists forecast an expansion of 3% this year, slightly lower than last year, the poll showed, reflecting the effects of monetary tightening. In December, the central bank started an easing cycle after having kept the main policy rate steady at 50% for eight months. Inflation has dipped from as high as 75% last May. In March and April, the bank tightened its policy rate by 350 basis points and raised the lending rate to 49% in response to market turmoil that erupted over the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival. Economists expect the central bank to return to easing this summer albeit with fewer cuts throughout the year. While the tight policy has helped cool inflation, it has the potential to also cool economic growth, which is already under pressure from global trade wars. The government has forecast 4% economic growth this year. In a research note, Goldman Sachs said economic growth lost some momentum in the first quarter and that the monetary tightening since March has increased downside risks. "Activity was driven predominantly by household consumption in Q1, supported by expansionary fiscal policy since the H2 last year and monetary easing since December," the Wall Street bank said. The central bank is now "focusing more on the need for a demand slowdown for further disinflation," Goldman added. "However, we are sceptical that policy will remain tight for long enough to reduce momentum meaningfully." The Turkish Statistical Institute is expected to release the official Q1 GDP data at 0700 GMT on Friday.
Arab News
2 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Turkish central bank gross reserves rose $7.5bn last week, traders and data say
ANKARA: Turkiye's central bank bought more foreign currency last week, lifting its total reserves by a further $7.5 billion after sharp declines in March and April, bankers' calculations from data showed on Tuesday. Market turmoil in March over the detention and jailing of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is President Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, triggered a policy pivot, including a hike in the bank's key interest rate last month. Bankers' calculations, based on preliminary data, also showed that the central bank's net reserves rose by $8 billion last week to $48 billion. The central bank bought some $13 billion in the last three weeks, data showed, marking a reversal after it had sold some $57 billion to help stabilize the lira and other financial markets in the face of the turmoil. Separately, overnight interest rates, which had dropped briefly to the main policy rate level of 46 percent on Friday, returned this week to 49 percent, at the upper band of the rate corridor that was also earlier raised to head off market turmoil. Traders are closely monitoring whether overnight rates will hover close to the upper band of the rate corridor — 49 percent — in the coming days, for further signals on the policy path ahead. Bankers have said that lowering overnight market rates would be a necessary step before the central bank resumes its easing cycle, which began in December but was reversed in April in the wake of the mayor's arrest and jailing. The bank's next two scheduled policy meetings will be on June 19 and July 24.
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
Erdogan's horrible 'terror fight' joke as he meets Pakistan PM, army chief after India warns Turkey
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Istanbul on Sunday (May 25), Erdogan's office said the two countries would strive to boost cooperation, particularly in defence, energy and transportation. Istanbul meeting came amid India's stern message to Turkey over Pak-backed terrorism. Watch for more details.
Arab News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
At Istanbul meeting, Pakistan's Sharif, Turkiye's Erdogan call for ‘unimpeded' aid for Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met in Istanbul on Sunday and called for an 'immediate ceasefire' in Gaza and access to 'unimpeded humanitarian aid' for the people of the besieged enclave. Fresh Israeli military strikes killed at least 30 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Sunday. Israel launched its latest air and ground war in Gaza after a cross-border attack by the Hamas group on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people by Israeli tallies, with 251 hostages abducted into Gaza. The war has killed more than 53,900 Palestinians since, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the coastal strip. The entire 2.1 million population of Gaza is facing prolonged food shortages, with nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death, according to the World Health Organization. Food security groups say more than 93 percent of children in Gaza, about 930,000, are at risk of famine. Using satellite data, the United Nations estimated in February that 69 percent of the structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. 'Prime Minister Sharif and President Erdoğan discussed pressing regional and international developments,' Sharif's office said in a statement after the two leaders held delegation-level talks in Istanbul. 'They also expressed deep concern over the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza, urgently calling for an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access to the affected Palestinian population.' With most of Gaza's two million population squeezed into an ever narrowing zone on the coast and in the area around the southern city of Khan Younis by Israel's military operation, international pressure to get aid in quickly has ratcheted up. Israel's initial blockade on Gaza, immediately following the October 7 attacks, prevented the entry of humanitarian aid for several weeks. As the war progressed, aid has been allowed in limited quantities. Israel has recently announced that a new aid system, sponsored by the United States and run by private contractors, will soon begin operations from four distribution centers in the south of Gaza, but many details of how the system will work remain unclear. The UN has already said it will not work with the new system, which it says will leave aid distribution conditional on Israel's political and military aims. Israel says its forces will only provide security for the centers and will not distribute aid themselves. Even as the aid has begun to slowly trickle in, the Israeli military has continued its intensified ground and air operation launched last week, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would end with Israel taking full control of the Gaza Strip.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
Erdogan, Sharif discuss boosting cooperation in def, intel-sharing
ISTANBUT: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif in Istanbul on Sunday and said the two countries would strive to boost cooperation, particularly in defence, energy and transportation, Erdogan's office said. Turkiye has strong ties with Pakistan, both being largely Muslim countries and sharing historical links, and expressed solidarity with it during its recent clashes with India. Erdogan's office said he told Sharif it was in the interest of Turkiye and Pakistan to increase solidarity in education, intelligence sharing and technological support in the fight against terrorism. Turkiye's foreign minister Hakan Fidan, defence minister Yasar Guler and intelligence agency chief Ibrahim Kalin also attended the meeting. Earlier in May, Erdogan expressed solidarity with Pakistan after India conducted military strikes in response to April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26, mostly tourists, in J&K. (This is a Reuters story)
