Şimşek, Erkan attend IMF-World Bank meetings in Marrakech

MARRAKESH

Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek and Central Bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan have participated in the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank annual meetings in Marrakech, Morocco.

On the sidelines of the IMF-World bank event, Erkan had a 40-minute meeting with U.S. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. This was the first meeting between the heads of the Turkish and U.S. central banks since 2009.

Erkan also attended an investor meeting in Marrakech, which was organized by Barclays and Deutsch Bank. She also met with her Brazilian counterpart, Roberto Campos Neto.

Offering a real interest rate is a must to curb inflation expectations, Şimşek told reporters in Morocco. “We are nearing this goal.”

The Central Bank has hiked its policy rate, the one-week repo auction rate, by a total of 2,150 basis points since June.

It lifted the key rate by 500 basis points last month to 30 percent.

Şimşek is scheduled to travel to meet with international investors in Paris on Oct. 19. He is also expected to go to Abu Dhabi, Doha and Riyadh later this month.

The minister was in London earlier this month for investor meetings.

There is strong interest in Türkiye from international investors, Şimşek said in an interview with a private broadcaster this week.

The minister said that he expected foreign fund flows to Türkiye to increase in the period ahead.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank’s reserves increased by $680 million in a week to stand at $122.9 billion as of Oct. 6, data from the bank showed.

Gross foreign exchange reserves rose from $81.6 billion on Sept. 20 to $83.15billion on Oct. 6, while gold reserves declined from $40.6 billion to $39.7 billion over the same period.

Total reserves have increased by $24.4 billion since the end of May.

Earlier this week, Şimşek said that they are working to strengthen Türkiye’s resilience to external shocks, he said. “Accumulating reserves is important, and this will continue,” Şimşek said.