Erdogan Says Interest Rates Will Be Lowered and Inflation Will Fall Too

A vendor waits for customers at his stall in a street market in Istanbul, Turkey, January 4, 2022. (Reuters)
A vendor waits for customers at his stall in a street market in Istanbul, Turkey, January 4, 2022. (Reuters)
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Erdogan Says Interest Rates Will Be Lowered and Inflation Will Fall Too

A vendor waits for customers at his stall in a street market in Istanbul, Turkey, January 4, 2022. (Reuters)
A vendor waits for customers at his stall in a street market in Istanbul, Turkey, January 4, 2022. (Reuters)

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan repeated his unorthodox economic policy on Saturday, saying interest rates would be lowered further and inflation would fall as a result, days before inflation data for January is announced, adding Turkey's economic woes would pass.

Embroiled in a currency crisis fueled by the central bank's move to slash rates by 500 basis points since September as part of an economic model engineered by Erdogan, Turkey saw December inflation soar to its highest level in Erdogan's 19-year rule.

A Reuters poll on Friday showed it is expected to hit a near 20-year high of 47% in January.

"You know of my battle with interest rates. We are lowering interest rates and we will lower them. Know that inflation will fall too then, it will fall more," Erdogan told supporters in the Black Sea province of Giresun.

"Exchange rate will stabilize and inflation will fall, prices will fall too, all of these are temporary."



TotalEnergies Reportedly Considers Foray Into Copper Trading

FILED - 21 January 2022, Berlin: The logo of the energy company TotalEnergies is pictured at one of its gas stations in Berlin. Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa
FILED - 21 January 2022, Berlin: The logo of the energy company TotalEnergies is pictured at one of its gas stations in Berlin. Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa
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TotalEnergies Reportedly Considers Foray Into Copper Trading

FILED - 21 January 2022, Berlin: The logo of the energy company TotalEnergies is pictured at one of its gas stations in Berlin. Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa
FILED - 21 January 2022, Berlin: The logo of the energy company TotalEnergies is pictured at one of its gas stations in Berlin. Photo: Fabian Sommer/dpa

France's TotalEnergies is considering a move into trading copper, expanding its oil trading operations into metals to capitalize on the global energy transition, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
The oil major has been "studying the case" for trading copper, Rahim Azouni, senior vice president of crude, fuel and derivatives trading, told a closed-door conference in London on Wednesday, the FT said.
Azouni said the company has not decided whether to make move, the newspaper said, citing people who had heard his remarks.
TotalEnergies did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment.
The company would be following Vitol, the world's top energy trader, which this year diversified into metals trading.
The energy transition, which includes electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies, will need large volumes of metals including aluminium, copper, nickel cobalt - providing lucrative opportunities for traders.