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Turkey retained its stable rating from S&P Global despite protests and turbulence arising from the arrest of Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul

Risks for Turkey’s economy despite stable credit rating

Turkey’s economic outlook has retained its “stable” rating, according to ratings agency S&P Global, despite heightened political and economic uncertainty since March, with more downside risk than upside opportunity. The agency had raised Ankara’s sovereign debt rating to its present BB-, just below investment grade, in November, the second increase in 2024. It affirmed that […]

Turkey's Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek speaks during a meeting of Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD) in Istanbul, Turkey, July 11, 2024. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Turkey hopes for funding surge from global institutions

Turkey is hoping to attract more than $40 billion in project funding from global financial institutions over the next three years to increase environmental investment, boost infrastructure and reduce risk from natural disasters. Treasury and finance minister Mehmet Şimşek said on April 26 he anticipated Turkey would receive $41 billion in low-cost, long-term finance from […]

Colonnade Street, Side, Antalya, Turkey. While domestic tourism surged in Turkey, rising costs and shorter stays reflect the impact of inflation on holidaymakers' spending power

Turkey’s domestic tourism sector heats up

Turkey’s domestic tourism sector surged in 2024, with more Turks holidaying at home than ever before, shrugging off high inflation and economic uncertainty by taking to the road in record numbers. Between them, Turkey’s 85 million citizens took 67 million domestic trips last year, an increase of 9 percent on 2023, according to state statistics […]

A garment factory in Corum, Turkey. Manufacturers had been hoping for a cut in interest rates

Factory activity in Turkey falls to lowest in two years

Turkey’s manufacturing sector has posted its fifth monthly decline in activity, reflecting a slowdown in domestic demand and the impact of political and economic instability. The manufacturing capacity utilisation rate – how much a factory’s full potential is being used – fell to 74.3 percent in April, according to a report issued this week by […]

A supermarket owner in Cairo stocks a fridge. Egypt and Turkey helped power 11 percent revenue growth in PepsiCo’s international beverages business

Gains in Egypt and Turkey help PepsiCo profit

Revenue growth at PepsiCo Inc.’s Europe, Middle East and Africa (Emea) division outpaced all its other regional divisions in the first quarter, lifted by stronger demand in Egypt and Turkey.  However, the US snacks and drinks company trimmed its full-year profit outlook and warned of rising global trade costs. The maker of Pepsi, Gatorade and […]

People evacuate to Gezi Park following the earthquake in Istanbul on Wednesday

Quake lends urgency to Istanbul rebuild programme

Istanbul, Turkey’s economic hub, has received a timely reminder that it is at the centre of a high-risk earthquake zone, having been rattled by a tremor of magnitude 6.2 on Wednesday. The hope is that the quake will jolt the city authorities into action to speed up a slow-moving building renewal scheme.  Damage from the […]

Government ecommerce reforms in Turkey have decreased the duty free amount on foreign purchases to just €27

New ecommerce rules spur cost-benefit debate in Turkey

Turkish officials have denied media reports that they were about to block access to the popular Chinese online shopping platform Temu after it allegedly failed to comply with new regulations governing ecommerce. This has highlighted the debate in Turkey around the cost and benefit for the multi-billion dollar industry following this month’s introduction of the […]

Container vessels in Istanbul's Ambarli Port. Turkey's manufacturing base is struggling with rising borrowing costs

Turkey worried that cheap Asian goods will hurt economy

Turkey is concerned that an enduring trade war between the US and China and other Asian countries may encourage manufacturers to flood Turkey’s market with cut-price goods to make up for US losses, the finance minister has said. That could damage Turkey’s own manufacturing base, already struggling with high and rising borrowing costs and domestic […]

2SBHG03 Serious thinking businessman working with tablet computer inside office. Businessman in shirt working at workplace, using laptop, sitting at desk, using financial app.

Turkish startup funding plunges in first quarter

Uncertainty in the Turkish economy and government budget cuts are weighing on the country’s startup environment, with venture capital funding for new projects falling in the first quarter to their lowest in more than 18 months. Turkish technology startups attracted $58 million in the three months to March 31, almost 50 percent down on the […]

Rail tracks maintenance process. Railroad workers repairing a broken track

Iraq and Turkey to devise roadmap for expanded trade

Iraq and its northern neighbour Turkey will hold a series of meetings in the coming weeks to devise a roadmap for increasing bilateral trade, which hit an all-time high of nearly $15 billion in 2024. “There is a plan in this respect and it has been prepared with the help of various Iraqi economic parties… […]

Turkish finance minister Mehmet Simsek said he would attend around 15 meetings each day in the US

Turkey courts US companies and investors during visit

Turkish finance minister Mehmet Simsek said he will meet with rating agencies, investors and companies planning to shift supply to Turkey during a visit to the US this week. “I will be in America this week for the IMF, World Bank and G20 meetings. We will meet with rating agencies in New York at the […]

City, Architecture, Building

Istanbul needs more houses as Turkey’s largest city grows

Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, will need 122,000 new homes every year to support its growing population, a PwC report has said. The city will need 1.22 million houses over the next 10 years with the population expected to rise by 3 percent to 16.2 million by 2034, Hurriyet Daily newspaper reported, citing PwC Turkey. The […]

Fatih Karahan, governor of Turkey's central bank, speaks during a press conference in Istanbul

Turkey raises interest rates for first time in a year

Turkey’s central bank raised its key lending rate for the first time in a year on Thursday, reversing a steady decline this year, on concerns of higher inflation in the coming months. The bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) increased its one-week repo auction rate to 46 percent on April 17 from 42.5 percent, the rate […]

A drone view shows the Aquatica carrying Russian oil on March 25

Turkey’s largest refiner buys Russian oil after price drop

Turkey’s largest oil refiner Tupras has returned to buying Russian Urals crude cargoes, after it stopped doing so earlier this year due to stronger US sanctions on Moscow, according to three trading sources and shipping data. Tupras did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment. The three sources said Tupras resumed its purchases […]

A street in Istanbul – Turkey property sales were strong for Q1

Turkish property sales jump may temper on market turmoil

Turkish property sales rose by 20 percent in the first quarter, but recent political unrest and economic uncertainty from mid-March onwards may weigh on the market. The number of property transactions rose to 335,786 in the three months to March 31 compared with the same period last year, according to data issued this week by […]

A closed bar in Istanbul. Turkey's economy has struggled with a depreciating lira and high interest rates

Turkey’s central bank records second-biggest ever loss

The Central Bank of Turkey lost 700 billion lira ($18 billion) last year, its second biggest loss ever after a record 2023. The loss came as the central bank made efforts to defend the Turkish lira while at the same time offering depositors higher interest rates on the local currency versus other currencies, paving the […]

Shoppers in Istanbul. Turkish inflation has fallen slightly and the lira has weakened against the dollar as money markets face flux

Tensions in trade and politics weigh on Turkish money markets

Political instability in Turkey and tariff-driven global trade tensions are weighing on Turkish money markets as international investors move out of local debt and locals buy up foreign currency. In the three weeks ending April 4, non-resident investors sold $8.5 billion of Turkish debt, according to a report released by the central bank last week.  […]

Workers pick hazelnuts in Ordu on the Black Sea coast. Turkey provides 75% of international supply and much of the crop is used to make chocolate

Frost and snow deal blow to Turkey’s biggest export crops

Turkey’s agriculture sector is reeling after much of the country was struck by hard frosts last week, damaging vital crops such as hazelnuts and apricots and jeopardising export income.  Temperatures plunged between April 10 and 12, with lows of -15C in some regions. More than a third of Turkey’s 81 provinces had frosts and snowfall. […]

Finance minister Mehmet Simsek said oil prices below $65 could mean Turkey's current account deficit stays below 1.5% of GDP

Turkey says oil price under $65 will tame inflation

Turkey’s finance minister Mehmet Simsek said that if the oil price remains below $65 a barrel, it will lower year-end inflation by 1 to 1.6 points this year. Responding to a Reuters question on the impact of a fall in oil prices following recent global trade measures, Simsek said persistent oil prices below $65 could […]

Alparslan Bayraktar, Turkey's energy minister, sees the preliminary exploration and survey agreement signed with Somalia as the start of a wider move into the Africa energy sector

Turkey expands African energy foothold with Somali agreement

Turkey is expanding its presence in the Somali energy sector after striking a deal to conduct preliminary surveys for oil and gas deposits across the African country as it seeks to reduce its reliance on energy imports, notably from Russia. Turkish energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar and his Somali counterpart Dahir Shire Mohamed this week signed […]

Turkey hopes that its exports to the US may benefit from heavier tariffs on competing nations

Turkey looks for positives from tariff fallout

Turkey is eyeing a potential upside in its international trade as Donald Trump takes on China and much of the rest of the world in a trade war. As one of the countries initially hit with Trump’s baseline 10 percent tariff, many in Turkey had nonetheless forecast export doors to the US would open for […]