STORY: Turkish currency dips against USD after fresh interest rate hike
SHOOTING TIME: Jan. 26, 2024
DATELINE: Jan. 27, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:21
LOCATION: ISTANBUL, Türkiye
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Istanbul city in Türkiye
2. various of an exchange office in Istanbul
3. various of the Turkish Central Bank and Turkish lira
4. various of Murat Tufan, an analyst with Turkish broadcaster Ekoturk (file)
5. various of the Turkish Central Bank, Turkish lira
6. various of people walking on the street in Istanbul, Türkiye

STORYLINE:

The Turkish currency lira hit an all-time low against the U.S. dollar on Friday, one day after the central bank raised its key interest rate by 250 basis points to 45 percent.
   
After testing 30.64 liras, one dollar stood at 30.32 liras at 11:10 a.m. local time (0810 GMT).
   
During last June to December, the Turkish central bank raised interest rates from 8.5 percent to 42.5 percent to tame persistent inflation.
   
According to the official data announced last December, the country's annual inflation rate surged to 64.77 percent in 2023, leading the central bank to increase the rate for another round in its latest meeting on Thursday.
   
Murat Tufan, an analyst with Turkish broadcaster Ekoturk, told Xinhua on Friday that "in the short and long term, foreigners must be interested in investing in Türkiye so that Türkiye stabilizes its exchange rate."
   
According to Tufan, Türkiye needs to resolve some issues to attract foreign capital and capture a dollar flow, one of which is the blocked fighter jets sale to Türkiye by the United States.
   
"If we see the approval of an F-16 sale or a start of normalization processes in foreign policy, a serious pullback can be expected on the greenback side with the funds that will come to Türkiye through America," said Tufan, signaling a possible appreciation of the lira against the dollar.
   
"Nevertheless, under these conditions, we expect the dollar to end the year in the 36-40 lira band and inflation to be around 45 percent," he added.
   
The United States has stalled the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye to push the Turkish parliament to ratify Sweden's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the presidential decree on Sweden's accession to NATO on Thursday following the Turkish parliament's vote on the bill.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Istanbul, Türkiye.
(XHTV)