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Kuwait Nominates Former Governor as New OPEC Chief

Reuters file photo of Haitham al-Ghais
Reuters file photo of Haitham al-Ghais
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Kuwait Nominates Former Governor as New OPEC Chief

Reuters file photo of Haitham al-Ghais
Reuters file photo of Haitham al-Ghais

Kuwait has nominated its former governor to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Haitham al-Ghais, to lead the oil producer group after Mohammad Barkindo's term as secretary general, two sources close to the matter said.

Nigerian Barkindo, whose is due to step down at the end of July next year, took OPEC's top job in mid-2016 and was granted a second three-year term in 2019.

Al-Ghais is the only candidate to be nominated so far, the sources told Reuters.

Al-Ghais stepped down as Kuwait's OPEC governor in June this year and was appointed deputy managing director of international marketing at state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC).

He was previously in charge of KPC's regional offices in Beijing and London before becoming governor to OPEC in 2017.

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Türkiye's Central Bank Lowers Key Interest Rate to 47.5%

A girl sells plastic items to people in the Kadikoy district in Istanbul, Türkiye, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A girl sells plastic items to people in the Kadikoy district in Istanbul, Türkiye, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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Türkiye's Central Bank Lowers Key Interest Rate to 47.5%

A girl sells plastic items to people in the Kadikoy district in Istanbul, Türkiye, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A girl sells plastic items to people in the Kadikoy district in Istanbul, Türkiye, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Türkiye’s central bank lowered its key interest rate by 2.5 percentage points to 47.5% on Thursday, carrying out its first rate cut in nearly two years as it tries to control soaring inflation.
Citing slowing inflation, the bank’s Monetary Policy Committee said it was reducing its one-week repo rate to 47.5% from the current 50%.
The committee said in a statement that the overall inflation trend was “flat” in November and that indicators suggest it is likely to decline in December, The Associated Press reported.

Demand within the country was slowing, helping to reduce inflation, it said.
Inflation in Türkiye surged in recent years due to declining foreign reserves and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unconventional economic policy of lowering rates as a way to tame inflation — which he later abandoned.
Inflation stood at 47% in November, after having peaked at 85% in late 2022, although independent economists say the real rate is much higher than the official figures.

Most economists argue that higher interest rates help control inflation, but the Turkish leader had fired central bank governors for failing to fall in line with his previous rate-cutting policies.

Following a return to more conventional policies under a new economic team, the central bank raised interest rates from 8.5% to 50% between May 2023 and March 2024. The bank had kept rates steady at 50% until Thursday's rate cut.
The high inflation has left many households struggling to afford basic goods, such as food and housing.