Page 9 - TURKRptDec19

investment in Bank Pozitif in Turkey, which it says it is in the process of selling​.
Turkey consumed 23.08bn kWh of electricity in November, marking a 1.08% decline from a year ago​, state-run news agency Anadolu reported on December 3, citing energy ministry data.
The decline in power consumption may signal that economic activity is losing steam in the final months of the year​.
2.3​ ​Early official data releases
On November 27, Erdogan son-in-law Berat Albayrak previewed the upcoming Q3 GDP data and kindly gave his insights on Q4. The Turkish economy he said—and don’t doubt it—has grown about 1% in Q3 and will grow by 4-5% in Q4.
These growth rates will come as another shock for the many Turks who, living amid the embattled real economy, are already puzzling over how officials claim there is now single-digit inflation.
The previous day Erdogan let the second-order experts know that policy rates along with inflation will fall into the single digits in the near future and will remain there in 2020. Isn’t it so very good to have these leaders with their unerring certainty?
"There you go... it’s official, the end of anything other than single digit inflation in Turkey—by decree...," Timothy Ash of Bluebay Asset Management remarked in a note to investors.
Albayrak said on December 3 that recent stability in the lira and lower imports helped “maintain the positive outlook in inflation”. The situation showed Turkey could end the year below its inflation target of 12%, he added.
The central bank’s next rate-setting meeting is set for December 12. Swap market pricing indicates that traders anticipate at least a 100-200-point cut to be voted for at that meeting.
The central bank expects inflation, which surged above 25% last year, to end 2019 at 12%.
There are recommendations to the central bank to moderate the pace of future rate cuts in order to avoid a resurgence of inflation.
2.4​ ​“Democrats accusing me of being too soft on Turkey,” says Trump while pardoning Thanksgiving turkeys
“It seems the Democrats are accusing me of being too soft on Turkey,” said Donald Trump seeking the usual clutch of laugh lines while encountering North Carolina birds Bread and Butter during the traditional presidential pardoning of a Thanksgiving turkey in the White House Rose Garden.
Turkish Air Force F-16 warplanes, meanwhile, were flowing over Ankara to provide target practice for S-400 missile defence systems, to deter anyone thinking of going one better than the July 2016 ‘palace coup’.
There are bipartisan attempts taking place in Congress to sanction Turkey over the S-400 acquisition and deployment as well as its incursion into northeastern Syria.
9​ TURKEY Country Report​ December 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com