Erdem Ba

The Turkish government has chosen Murat Çetinkaya, a deputy Central Bank governor, to be the Bank's new governor, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmu? announced on April 11 after a cabinet meeting led by Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu in ?anl?urfa on April 11.

An Ankara court accepted the demand submitted by 543 delegates from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) for an extraordinary party congress meeting. The MHP administration will challenge this decision at the Supreme Court of Appeals. 

The economic bureaucracy in Turkey has been reshuffling in a dramatic fashion over the last couple of years, as some contradicting views have appeared and grown in the country's administration, creating a kind of "dual-administration" in Ankara. 

Turkey's lira weakened on April 8 after a presidential aide said its level justified an interest rate cut, increasing the political pressure on the central bank to cut rates.

Cemil Ertem told state broadcaster TRT Haber that the Turkish Lira, still not far off a record low hit last year, was in a "strong position" against the U.S. dollar.

Central Bank Gov. Erdem Ba?ç? has said the main reason the 2015 inflation target could not be reached was cumulative rises in foreign exchange rates and food prices, in response to a question from a main opposition party deputy. 

Because of expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserves (Fed) will delay rate hikes and the European Central Bank will lower rates, an optimistic atmosphere is dominant in global markets. When small scale drops in the inflation rate are added to this, then we see that this atmosphere is also dominant in domestic markets.
 

The Central Bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 7.5 percent again on Feb. 23, raising concerns amid a continuing rise of inflation rates. 

It also kept its overnight borrowing rate at 7.25 percent and its overnight lending rate at 10.75 percent, according to statement on the bank's website.

The Food and Agriculture Ministry has decided to impose a price ceiling for red meat in a bid to control recent rises.

According to new price regulations announced by Minister Faruk Çelik on Feb. 9, the maximum price for a kilo of ground meat will be 32 Turkish Liras (around $11), while the maximum price of a kilo of diced meat will be 34 liras. 

The Turkish Central Bank has increased its inflation forecast rate by one point from 6.5 to 7.5 for 2016, having kept its "5 percent target" for the following three years. 

It is too early for Turkey to abandon its use of a wide interest rate corridor in setting monetary policy, Central Bank Gov. Erdem Ba?ç? said on Jan. 21, batting back investor hopes the bank would soon simplify its system of using multiple rates.