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Moody’s Slashes Forecast for Turkey’s 2018 Economic Growth

Moody's Sign - REUTERS
Moody's Sign - REUTERS
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Moody’s Slashes Forecast for Turkey’s 2018 Economic Growth

Moody's Sign - REUTERS
Moody's Sign - REUTERS

International credit rating agency Moody’s has lowered Turkey’s growth forecast for 2018 from 4 percent to 2.5 percent on the grounds of increasing oil prices and loss of value in the Turkish Lira.

The rating agency has emphasized that this was influenced by the statements made by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan regarding monetary policies and measures which he will take after presidential and parliamentary elections taking place on 24 June.

The decision to lower Turkey's growth forecast, which hit 7.4 percent last year, came after Standard & Poor's and Fitch downgraded Turkish sovereign debt rate for similar reasons.

Earlier in May, S & P cut the country's foreign currency sovereign credit rating to 'BB-/B' from 'BB/B' but with a stable outlook.

"We are downgrading Turkey because of what we view as increasing macroeconomic imbalances," the agency said in a statement.

Also, the central bank raised its 2018 inflation forecast to 8.4 percent from 7.9 percent, with the year-end inflation forecast for 2019 remained unchanged at 6.5 percent.

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Britain Vows to Toughen Its Trade Defenses Under New Strategy

Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Jonathan Reynolds speaks during Britain's Labour Party annual conference, in Brighton, Britain, September 27, 2021. (Reuters)
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Jonathan Reynolds speaks during Britain's Labour Party annual conference, in Brighton, Britain, September 27, 2021. (Reuters)
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Britain Vows to Toughen Its Trade Defenses Under New Strategy

Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Jonathan Reynolds speaks during Britain's Labour Party annual conference, in Brighton, Britain, September 27, 2021. (Reuters)
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Jonathan Reynolds speaks during Britain's Labour Party annual conference, in Brighton, Britain, September 27, 2021. (Reuters)

Britain said it would toughen up its trade defenses to better protect industries amid a turbulent global outlook of trade wars and tariffs that has shaped its new trade strategy to be published on Thursday.

Britain is set to partially implement a deal to remove some of US President Donald Trump's tariffs, but acknowledged that its trade remedies system needed to be more "agile, assertive, and accountable to guard British businesses against global turbulence".

"The UK is an open trading nation, but we must reconcile this with a new geopolitical reality and work in our own national interest," Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said.

"Our trade strategy will sharpen our trade defense so we can ensure British businesses are protected from harm."

As part of the strategy, the government will reform the Trade Remedies Authority.

UK Steel has said that the TRA's current powers, under which it proposed to cap how much of certain kinds of steel could be imported, needed to be more robust, and welcomed the trade strategy as a "critical turning point".

Britain is aiming to remove US tariffs on steel imports under their agreement, although the implementation of the deal has not been finalized.

The government has stepped in to take control of British Steel, and other industries are also seeking support, with AB Foods extending its deadline for deciding the fate of its Vivergo bioethanol plant to Thursday in the hope of a support package.

The trade strategy is Britain's first since it has had an independent trade policy after leaving the European Union.

The previous Conservative government hailed the opportunities of Brexit as it pursued several free trade agreements.

While the Labor government, which came to power a year ago, has concluded free trade agreement talks with India and is making progress on another with the Gulf Cooperation Council, it said the new strategy would focus on quicker and more practical deals than the previous government did.