Türkiye's Erdogan Expects More Interest Rate Cuts in 2025

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a plenary session at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a plenary session at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)
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Türkiye's Erdogan Expects More Interest Rate Cuts in 2025

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a plenary session at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a plenary session at the COP29 UN Climate Summit, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP)

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that there would be more interest rate cuts in 2025 after the central bank cut its key rate by 250 basis points to 47.5% this week.

The Turkish central bank trimmed the one-week repo rate after an 18-month tightening effort that reversed years of unorthodox economic policies and easy money championed by Erdogan, who has since changed tack to back the program.

"Priority in our economy program is to lower the inflation... We will hopefully reduce inflation to the required level by using other tools at our disposal in addition to the monetary policy," Erdogan told members of his AK Party (AKP) in northwestern city of Bursa.

"We will definitely start lowering the interest rates. 2025 will be the landmark year for this," he said.

"Interest rates will decrease so that inflation will decrease. We will take this step. This is now indispensable for us."

Erdogan, who once described interest rates as his "biggest enemy," said last month that inflation would fall alongside the interest rate.

The central bank earlier announced that it had reduced the number of scheduled policy meetings next year to eight from 12 in 2024.

According to a Reuters poll's median, the central bank is expected to ease rates to about 28.5% by the end of 2025, with forecasts ranging between 25% and 33%.



Gold Set for Brightest Year Since 2010 on Rate Cuts, Safe-haven Demand

Ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold are placed in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/FILE PHOTO
Ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold are placed in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/FILE PHOTO
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Gold Set for Brightest Year Since 2010 on Rate Cuts, Safe-haven Demand

Ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold are placed in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/FILE PHOTO
Ingots of 99.99 percent pure gold are placed in a workroom at the Novosibirsk precious metals refining and manufacturing plant in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, Russia, September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander Manzyuk/FILE PHOTO

Gold prices were set to end a record-breaking year on a positive note on Tuesday as robust central bank buying, geopolitical uncertainties and monetary policy easing fuelled the safe-haven metal's strongest annual performance since 2010.

Spot gold rose 0.1% to $2,607.72 per ounce as of 1315 GMT, while US gold futures gained 0.1% to $2,620.40.

As one of the best-performing assets of 2024, bullion has gained more than 26% year-to-date, the biggest annual jump since 2010, and last scaled a record high of $2,790.15 on Oct. 31 after a series of record-breaking rallies throughout the year.

"Rising geopolitical risks, demand from central banks, easing of monetary policy by central banks globally, and the resumption of inflows into gold-linked Exchange-Traded Commodities (ETC) were the primary drivers of gold's rally in 2024," said Aneeka Gupta, director of macroeconomic research at WisdomTree, Reuters reported.

The metal is likely to remain supported in 2025 despite some headwinds from a stronger US dollar and a slower pace of easing by the Federal Reserve, Gupta added.

The US Fed delivered a third consecutive interest rate cut this month but flagged fewer rate cuts for 2025.

Donald Trump's incoming administration was also poised to significantly impact global economic policies, encompassing tariffs, deregulation, and tax amendments.

"Bullion bulls may enjoy another stellar year ahead if global geopolitical tensions are ramped up under Trump 2.0, potentially pushing investors towards this time-tested safe haven," said Exinity Group Chief Market Analyst Han Tan.

Bullion is often regarded as a hedge against geopolitical and economic risks and tends to perform well in low-interest-rate environments.

"We expect gold to rally to $3,000/t oz on structurally higher central bank demand and a cyclical and gradual boost to ETF holdings from Fed rate cuts," said Daan Struyven, commodities strategist at Goldman Sachs.

Spot silver fell 0.3% to $28.85 per ounce, palladium was steady at $901.03 and platinum was little changed at $904.23.

Silver is headed for its best year since 2020, having added nearly 22% so far. Platinum and palladium are set for annual losses and have dipped over 8% and 17%, respectively.