Turkish Press Digest - Sept 30, 2022

President Erdogan’s approval rating rose to a 13-month high, according to MetroPOLL Research – Twitter

President Erdoğan renewed his calls for lower interest rates and said that “we should reduce the interest rate to single digits by the end of the year”. He also mentioned that they had talks with President Putin regarding a possible second nuclear power station project in the Sinop province – Dünya

S&P revised up its growth forecast for Turkey in 2022 to 5.2 percent YoY. [OECD and EBRD also revised up their respective Turkish GDP growth forecasts earlier in the week – G.C.] – BloombergHT

Within the scope of the government’s social housing project of five hundred thousand houses, the foundation of five thousand houses will be laid on October 25th – Habertürk

In the summary published on the September meeting of the CBRT Monetary Policy Committee, it was stated that the difference between loan rates and the policy rate remained elevated, this was being watched closely and the macroprudential measures implemented recently would work towards closing this gap – BloombergHT

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Dönmez said “We must unite the east and west of the Caspian” in a speech he made in Kazakhstan. [Turkey is working towards bringing the Turkmenistan Natural Gas to Europe ever since the continental shelf issues were largely resolved among the neighboring states in the Caspian – G.C.] – Dünya

Real Sector Confidence Index decreased significantly in September while all the other sectoral confidence indices and the Consumer Confidence Index rose – BloombergHT

Turkey had a foreign trade deficit of 11.2 billion dollars in August, an all-time high – Dünya

According to World Gold Council statistics, the Central Bank of Turkey bought 9 tons of gold in August – BloombergHT

Sweden reportedly lifted its arms embargo on Turkey – Habertürk

Corporate access to the FX-protected TRY Deposit Scheme is extended to cover FX holdings as of the end of September – BloombergHT

The Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) extended the "Maximum Settlement Price Mechanism" in electricity generation for another 6 months. The maximum settlement prices (per MWh) were determined as 4,500 TRY for natural gas power plants, 2,750 TRY for imported coal power plants, 2,050 TRY for domestic coal power plants and 1,540 TRY for renewable resources – BloombergHT

Motor Vehicle Dealers Federation (MASFED) Chairman Aydın Erkoç evaluated the second-hand automobile industry. Noting that the market experienced a decrease of nearly 13 percent in August compared to the same period of the previous year, Erkoç stated that they anticipate that the contraction will continue in the coming periods - Dünya

The interest of Russian investors in the Turkish real estate market, especially in Istanbul and Bodrum, continues to increase. According to the statements of M2 Design Gayrimenkul Danışmanlık A.Ş., which provides services in the luxury segment, especially for the CIS countries, it is seen that the demand for Turkey, especially the coastal regions, has increased by 50% in the last week - Dünya

Industry representatives stated that the big buyers in the textile sector purchasing from Turkey will reduce their orders by 15 percent in the first half of next year. Even more alarming, for the domestic brands, imports are now becoming more attractive in terms of price. In this context, it is expected that many brands such as LC Waikiki, DeFacto, and Koton are likely to increase overseas supply - Dünya

Istanbul Settlement and Custody Bank (Takasbank) stated that the shares of TSKB, SKBNK, and ISGYO were taken into collateral accounts to provide liquidity to brokerage houses in order to close their positions - BloombergHT