Economic policy

Turkey's central bank lowered its key interest rate by 2.5 percentage points to 47.5% on Thursday, carrying out its first rate cut in nearly two years as it tries to control soaring inflation.

Citing slowing inflation, the bank's Monetary Policy Committee said it was reducing its one-week repo rate to 47.5% from the current 50%.

In recent reports from Citi and Bank of America (BofA), analysts have offered upbeat assessments of the Turkish economy and local markets.

The Turkish markets are on the verge of a "renaissance moment," said Citi, adding that the authorities' shift toward policy normalization has galvanized investor interest in Turkish assets.

Expected post-election fiscal tightening would strengthen the effectiveness of Türkiye's monetary policy, in the context of weakened transmission channels, Fitch Ratings has said. 

"If sustained, this improvement in policy consistency should support lower inflation, a narrower current account deficit and a recovery in international reserves," the rating agency added.

Fitch has upgraded Türkiye's rating by one notch, citing tighter monetary policy are helping reduce macroeconomic vulnerabilities.

Fitch moved the rating to "B+" from "B," while revising the country's outlook to positive from stable.

The government is determined to decrease the inflation to single digits, according to a statement by the Economic Coordination Board (EKK).

After Russia's withdrawal from the agreement to export grain and fertilizers from Ukrainian and Russian ports on the Black Sea, prices have begun to rise again, Moscow has declared ships sailing to and from Ukraine are enemy vessels (they were already hard to insure), and the Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss the humanitarian fallout from the Russian decision.

BELGRADE - The IMF Executive Board has decided that a first review under a stand-by arrangement with Serbia was successful, and Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said on Thursday the decision was another confirmation of the appropriateness of Serbia's economic policy and structural and institutional reforms.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is pegged to make a fourth straight steep hike in the key interest rate this week as it battles surging costs, with its aggressive stance fueling expectations of a recession.

American households have been squeezed by soaring consumer prices, propelling economic issues to the top spot among voter concerns in upcoming midterm elections.

That policy also envisaged that goods and services produced in the country would become cheaper abroad because of the fall in wages. China entered its development process with a similar policy.

Ljubljana – The STA management and staff have described the government’s failure to transfer overdue public service payments as required by the latest economic stimulus act as a defeat of the rule of law, convinced that the decision to seek European Commission input over state aid rules as a delaying tactic meant to financially exhaust the agency.