Page 4 - TURKRptAUG19

1.0 Executive summary
Trump under bipartisan pressure to sanction Turkey, Erdogan says S-400s will be fully operational by April 2020.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would like to see Turkey decline to make the S-400s operational.
Erdogan has sacked the central bank governor Murat Cetinkaya.
Fitch cuts Turkey to BB- in wake of central bank chief firing.
The Turkish central bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) on July 25 cut its policy rate by a more than expected 425 bp to 19.75%, the biggest such move seen in nearly two decades.
Turkish assets have of late been gaining—or at least not collapsing—even though President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been deploying his by now well- worn strategy of sparking consecutive headline-grabbing shocks to ensure that everyone forgets his political defeats, the latest being his humiliating loss in the Istanbul revote at the end of June.
Bank of England report shows Turkish lira trading volumes sank in wake of currency crisis and clampdown.
Turkey's economy is expected to contract in 2019 for the first time in a decade. Turkish public lenders cut lending rates.
Attempts to clean up Turkey’s bad debt in the wake of last year’s currency crisis have stalled after bankers rejected or put on hold initial plans.
With half of Turkish lira (TRY) 400bn ($72bn) of troubled loans in Turkey already reorganised, the government won’t cover any losses incurred from bad loans, finance minister said.
Turkey's banking system has avoided a hard currency liquidity crunch since last August’s Turkish lira crisis, partly thanks to FX deposit inflows, but refinancing risks remain high, Fitch Ratings said.
Fitch affirms Turkey’s Arcelik two notches above country ceiling amid bank and corporate downgrades.
Japan’s Nippon Paint Holding buys Turkish Betek for €219mn.
Emirates NBD completes acquisition of Turkish lender Denizbank from Sberbank.
4 TURKEY Country Report August 2019 www.intellinews.com