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Saudi-Turkish Trade Summit Set for Istanbul in October

A ferry crosses the Bosphorus on a cloudy morning a day after heavy rains in Istanbul, Türkiye, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. (AP)
A ferry crosses the Bosphorus on a cloudy morning a day after heavy rains in Istanbul, Türkiye, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. (AP)
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TT

Saudi-Turkish Trade Summit Set for Istanbul in October

A ferry crosses the Bosphorus on a cloudy morning a day after heavy rains in Istanbul, Türkiye, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. (AP)
A ferry crosses the Bosphorus on a cloudy morning a day after heavy rains in Istanbul, Türkiye, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. (AP)

The Türkiye Exporters Assembly, in coordination with the Turkish Ministry of Commerce, is organizing a Saudi-Turkish trade summit scheduled to take place on October 8-12.

The summit will feature the participation of 70 members from Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Chamber of Commerce.

Deputy Chairman of the Assembly Ahmet Gulec has invited Turkish exporters to actively engage in this trade summit.

He highlighted that a delegation from the Assembly, representing 43 companies operating in various sectors such as food, non-ferrous metals, textiles, ready-made garments, chemicals, and furniture, had accompanied Turkish Minister of Commerce, Omer Bolat, during his visit to Riyadh in July 2022.

Bolat held meetings with 150 Saudi businessmen during his visit.

He also met with the Kingdom’s Commerce Minister Majid Al-Qasabi, Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih, Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing Minister Majid Al-Hogail, and Industry and Mineral Wealth Minister Bandar AlKhorayef.

During a visit to Türkiye last month, Al-Hogail met with Bolat and held several other meetings with Turkish ministers and officials.

The Assembly, in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce, arranged visits to four different trade bodies in Riyadh, Al-Hogail said.

A delegation of Turkish businessmen had visited Riyadh on September 11-14, holding meetings with Saudi officials with the aim of enhancing bilateral trade. Multiple cooperation agreements were signed between the two parties.

In a statement on Saturday, the Assembly disclosed a fourfold increase in Turkish exports to Saudi Arabia in the past eight months compared to the same period last year, reaching a total of $1.6 billion.

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Japan's Demand-Led Inflation Slows, Clouds BOJ Rate Hike Path

People visit Ameya-Yokocho shopping street in the Ueno area of Tokyo on June 19, 2024. (AFP)
People visit Ameya-Yokocho shopping street in the Ueno area of Tokyo on June 19, 2024. (AFP)
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Japan's Demand-Led Inflation Slows, Clouds BOJ Rate Hike Path

People visit Ameya-Yokocho shopping street in the Ueno area of Tokyo on June 19, 2024. (AFP)
People visit Ameya-Yokocho shopping street in the Ueno area of Tokyo on June 19, 2024. (AFP)

Japan's core inflation accelerated in May due to energy levies but an index that strips away the effect of fuel slowed for the ninth straight month, data showed on Friday, complicating the central bank's decision on how soon to raise interest rates.

The slowdown in so-called "core core" inflation, which is closely watched by the Bank of Japan as a key gauge of demand-driven price moves, casts doubt on the bank's view that rising wages will underpin consumption and keep inflation on track to durably hit its 2% target.

The core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food, rose 2.5% in May from a year earlier, government data showed, accelerating from the previous month's 2.2% gain due largely to a hike in the renewable energy levy. It was roughly in line with a median market forecast for a 2.6% gain.

But inflation as measured by an index stripping away both fresh food and fuel slowed to 2.1% in May from 2.4% in April, marking the lowest year-on-year increase since September 2022.

Private-sector service inflation slowed to 2.2% in May from 2.4% in the previous month, suggesting companies remained cautious about passing on labor costs.

"The Bank of Japan has been arguing that the strong pay hikes agreed upon in this year's spring wage negotiations will eventually provide a boost to services inflation, but so far there's little evidence of that happening," said Marcel Thieliant, head of Asia-Pacific at Capital Economics.

A renewed rise in crude oil prices and the boost to import costs from a weak yen muddle the outlook for inflation.

Analysts expect core CPI to accelerate near 3% later this month due to rising raw material costs. But such pressure could hurt consumption and discourage firms from hiking prices, hampering the BOJ's efforts to keep underlying, demand-driven inflation durably around its 2% target.

"Real wage growth remains weak in Japan and there's no data confirming that demand-driven inflation is accelerating," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research.

"The BOJ probably won't raise rates again at least until October-December this year," he said.

The BOJ exited negative rates and bond yield control in March in a landmark shift away from a decade-long, radical stimulus program.

With inflation exceeding its 2% target for two years, it has also dropped hints that it will raise short-term rates to levels that neither cool nor overheat the economy - seen by analysts as somewhere between 1-2%.

Many economists expect the BOJ to raise interest rates to 0.25% this year, though they are divided on whether it will come in July or later in the year.

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda has said the central bank will raise rates if it becomes more convinced that inflation will durably hit 2% backed by robust domestic demand and higher wages.

Recent weak signs in consumption remain a concern. Japan's economy contracted in the first quarter due in part to a 0.7% drop in consumption as rising living costs discourage households from boosting spending.