Macro-prudential policies to continue: Ministry
ANKARA
Macro-prudential measures will continue to be taken while fiscal discipline will not be compromised, the Treasury and Finance Ministry said on June 9, one day after state institutions announced a raft of new measures, including new domestic bonds, limiting maturity of consumer loans.
“Fiscal discipline will be maintained while fighting inflation will remain the top priority,” the ministry stressed, adding that practices designed to increase the appeal of the Turkish Lira will continue without compromising free market rules.
In a statement issued late on June 9, the Treasury Ministry announced that revenue-indexed bonds will be issued to “encourage our citizens to invest their savings in Turkish Lira assets and widen the investor base.”
The new instruments will only be offered to real persons, the statement added.
The Treasury said the revenue-indexed bonds will have a minimum yield guarantee in coupon payments and that they will pay coupons once every three months.
Bids for the new bonds will start to be collected from June 15.
Details regarding the yields and maturity of the new instruments will be unveiled with the announcement to be made regarding the bond issue.
The Treasury first issued the revenue-indexed bonds in 2009.
The yield of these instruments was indexed to the revenues of the state-owned enterprises, including Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO), the State Procurement Office (DMO), the General Directorate of State Airports Authority (DHMİ) and the General Directorate of Coast Safety (KIYEM), which are transferred to the state’s budget, according to the information on Borsa Istanbul’s website.
The yields of the revenue-indexed bonds are related to the state’s income and coupon payments are guaranteed within a minimum and maximum range, it says.
Consumer loan maturity
On June 9, the Baking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) also announced measures for consumer loans and credit card payments.
A maximum 24-month maturity for consumer loans between 50,000 Turkish Liras ($2,900) and 100,000 liras and a maximum 12-month maturity for consumer loans over 100,000 liras have been set, the agency said in a statement.
The BDDK also that it set the minimum amount of monthly credit card payments at 20 percent of debt on cards with limits under 25,000 liras and at 40 percent for the cards with limits more than 25,000.
The Capital Markets Board (SPK) joined other agencies in announcing new measures.
The SPK unveiled that it decided to reduce fees in order to encourage foreign funding for public offerings to be held in Turkey.
It also said it launched a commodity market on Borsa Istanbul and that it is currently working on issuing gold certificates.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank announced on June 10 that as a complementary step to the action increasing the weight of the Turkish lira fixed-rate securities in the collateral pool that will become effective on June 24, banks will maintain additional Turkish lira long-term fixed-rate securities for foreign currency deposits/participation funds.
With a view to supporting financial stability, the reserve requirement ratio for Turkish lira-denominated commercial cash loans has been increased from 10 percent to 20 percent, it also said.