Sales from the foreign exchange reserves, the increase in the number of foreign currency deposit accounts, sales of TRY-denominated assets by international investors, and the rapid upward trend in loan interest rates have marked the last week in Turkey.

No further analysis is needed regarding Fitch's credit rating upgrade. Turkey’s rating, which had been quite rapidly and meaninglessly downgraded before, was raised again to "B+" from "B" for incomprehensible reasons. My opinion about these institutions never changes: They make their decisions based on political and diplomatic considerations.

Inflation rate for February, the shortest month of the year, is being released today. But before that, inflation data was published by Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) on Friday. Today everyone will be looking forward to TurkStat’s data.

Earlier this week, I had shared an article with you, explaining the parameters which determine the value of a national currency. If a country’s economy is perceived negatively by its citizens as well as other people living in foreign countries, both naturally would want to avoid the currency of that country. And the reasons leading them to do this are:

Sometimes, I get worried as I read or watch the discussions on interest rates and foreign exchange rates on social media. Most people think that the value of Turkish lira varies depending on some technical parameters. But, there is something they do not consider.

I have attended panels in Mardin, Antalya and Cyprus throughout the week to answer the questions of different sectors before the March elections.

As the CBRT makes efforts to keep exchange rates below inflation continue, it has also lost another $10 billion from the FX reserves. There are concerns as to whether this policy will remain unchanged even after the elections.

Governments around the world say that the fight against inflation is about to come to an end and rate cuts will begin again. But what people are actually afraid of is economic slowdown or recession, and the fact that current rate hikes will not mean anything due to price increases caused by logistics costs.

In light of the recent Central Bank incident, which I hope that the has been a lesson to everyone, let me offer some pieces of advice to investors and private sector: - If you agree to be a guarantor for someone, do it because of the good and successful things they have done so far, not for the things they say they will do. - Avoid saying things you might regret later. .

In 2006, when I was serving as the secretary general of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), my colleagues and I had conducted an empirical study to put an end to the "exchange rates and export performance" debates.

According to the latest data, income distribution in Türkiye has been noticeably deteriorating since last year. While the top 20% of all Turkish citizens had 45.9% of the country's total income in 2014, this rate has increased to 49.8% in 2023. In other words, the top 20 percent, that is the rich, hold half of the total wealth.

The CBRT has finally announced its decision and hiked rates by 250-bps as expected. In their press release, central bank officials said that there will not be rate cuts anytime soon, at least not until before inflation starts to decline.