Turkish Press Digest - Oct 15, 2022

Turkish Statistical Institute published the labor force statistics for August. Accordingly, the number of unemployed persons aged 15 and over decreased by 100 thousand in August compared to the previous month and became 3 million 312 thousand people. The unemployment rate, on the other hand, decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 9.6%. Thus, unemployment fell to single digits for the first time in 4 years [This is the single most important predictor of election success – GC] – BloombergHT

Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalin evaluated Turkey's natural gas exploration efforts in the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean. Stating that the exploration works in the Eastern Mediterranean are continuing, Kalin gave the good news of a new reserve in the Black Sea. "There will probably be a capacity increase in the Black Sea. That is, the reserve will be updated upwards," Kalin said – NTV

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak said, "South Stream was planned as four lines with a capacity of approximately 63 billion cubic meters. This potential is the capacity that can be used to deliver gas to European consumers via the Black Sea and Turkey, provided there is demand." – BloombergHT

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, regarding the gas distribution center in Turkey for Europe, brought to the agenda by Russian President Vladimir Putin, said, “Our Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources and the Russian side will carry out the work and present it to us, and then we will have taken the step. "There is no such thing as waiting here," he said. He also stated that the most suitable place for the center would be the Thrace region – Dünya

Akkuyu Nuclear Inc. Production and Construction Organization Director Denis Sezemin said that Akkuyu aims to commission the first power unit at the beginning of 2023 [The first unit is expected to provide 2-2.5% of the annual electricity consumption – GC] – BloombergHT

According to TUIK data, retail sales volume increased by 9.0% in August compared to the same month of the previous year. Sales volume also increased by 3.7% on a monthly basis – BloombergHT

While industrial production increased by 2.4% on a monthly basis in August, the increase was limited to 1% on an annual basis [While the final consumption goods production showed a strong increase, intermediate goods production stagnated. This, and the retail sales data, lead us to believe that there was a considerable degree of inventory depletion in August – GC] – Dünya

The turnover index in the industry, construction, trade, and service sectors increased by 130.3% annually in August 2022. The monthly turnover, which contracted last month, increased by 6.8 in August – Dünya

The export volume index increased by 6.8% in August compared to the same month of the previous year, and the import volume index increased by 11.5%. The terms of trade, which was calculated by dividing the export unit value index by the import unit value index and which was obtained as 86.8 in August 2021, decreased by 13.8 points and became 73.0 in August 2022. The data was recorded as the lowest data of the last 7 months [Turkish trade balance continues to be severely impacted by the global energy prices- GC] – BloombergHT

President Erdoğan said, "We are launching a 100 billion Lira loan campaign for our tradesmen through Halkbank, which they can benefit from with a maturity of 60 months and an interest rate of 7.5%." [We are waiting for more details to see if these loans are going to be all cash or, as the recent regulatory trends indicate, based more on trade finance. We strongly hope that it’s the latter. – GC] – BloombergHT

According to TUIK data, house sales in Turkey decreased by 22.9% in September compared to the same month of the previous year and became 113,402. Istanbul had the highest share in house sales with 19,089 house sales and 16.8%. The data was recorded as the hardest drop in the last year. Mortgage sales fell 43% – Dünya

Although home sales to foreigners in Turkey lose momentum, the demand from the Russians and Ukrainians does not slow down. Russian citizens bought 1,196 houses in September. Year-to-date, one out of every 5 houses were sold to the Russians (in total home sales to foreigners) – Dünya

The total FX loan liabilities to abroad of the private sector was $162.9 billion in August, a decrease of $5.9 billion compared to the end of 2021 [The pace of the private sector FX deleveraging is breathtaking – GC] – Dünya

In the October Market Participants Survey conducted by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey with real sector and financial sector representatives and professionals, the year-end inflation expectation was 67.78%. The year-end inflation forecast in the September survey was 67.73%. In the October survey, the 12-month CPI expectation was increased from 36.74% to 37.34% – Dünya

The gross reserves of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey increased by $6.9 billion last week – BloombergHT

Turkey is planning to supply US LNG to North Macedonia and Bulgaria – BloombergHT

The periodic interest rate was recorded as 9.90% in the 7-year bond auction of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance – BloombergHT

The construction cost index increased by 116.98% annually and 1.98% monthly in August 2022. In the previous period, the annual increase in the index was recorded as 114.74% [And this will probably keep supporting house prices, as we talked about in our article on the Turkish housing market – GC] – BloombergHT

The National Dairy Council (USK) announced that the raw milk producers will receive a net 8.5 Lira per liter – BloombergHT

Information Technologies and Communications Authority increased the maximum fee for domestic calls made from mobile networks from 1.23 Lira to 1.55 Lira – Dünya

Evaluating the effects of monetary and macro prudential policies on the credit market, CBRT Deputy Chairman Taha Çakmak said that the share of SMEs in total loans reached the highest level – Dünya

Tax cuts are on the way for some domestically produced cars – Habertürk

We'd like to send our deepest condolences to the friends and families of the 40 mine workers who passed away in the mine explosion in Bartin.