A Thanksgiving spread is not laid until the Turkey makes its presence felt on the table. Apart from the bird, another Turkey has been grossing investors’ attention this Thanksgiving. Yes, we’re talking about the country called Turkey.
Let’s look at the investment odds surrounding this country right now and see why it’s not winning favor. This time, heightened tensions with the United States and the central bank’s fight to contain inflation are acting as headwinds to Turkey investments.
Political Uncertainty
Investors are mulling over the case in which the United States has threatened “to expose how powerful figures in Turkey may have helped undermine U.S. sanctions on Iran.” Turkey government cites this as a “conspiracy” and an effort to recur the coup attempt last year in July.
Bonds dived, pushing the yield on the benchmark 10-year debt to a record high on Nov 20. This happened despite the central bank’s comments “that it would powerful figures as much as $3 billion in instruments through year-end to help corporate borrowers manage their foreign-exchange positions.” Turkish currency lira plunged to its weakest level since the start of the year.
High Inflation
Consumer prices in Turkey rose 11.90% year over year in October of 2017, up from an 11.20% ascent in September as well as market expectations of an 11.50% rise. This was the highest inflation rate since October 2008. There seems to be an issue between the central bank and the government. While the central bank sees a greater need for higher rates amid high inflation, the weakest level.
Bright Spots
However, the growth picture remained decent. The Turkish economy grew 5.1%year over year in the second quarter of 2017, falling slightly from an upwardly revised 5.2% expansion in the previous three months and below market expectations of 5.3%.
