Turkish people should overcome ‘inflation lobby:’ Bank chair

ISTANBUL

İş Bank chair Ersin Özince has called Turkey’s rising inflation rate “ill-gotten,” adding that Turkish people need to fight to overcome the “inflation lobby,” referring to debates on the “interest rate lobby” in the Turkish economy. 

“Banking profits have been declining. Banks could not increase their profits as much as the inflation rate did in 2015. The interest rates are slightly higher than this inflation rate in Turkey. In this vein, what needs to be called ‘ill-gotten’ is the rising inflation rate. Turkish people should mainly overcome the inflation lobby. While the world has made a deflationist era, we here in Turkey need to fight the rising inflation rate, which has also pushed up the interest rates,” he said at a symposium on March 9, as quoted by Anadolu Agency.   

The discourse of the “interest rate lobby” has been voiced by some political circles from time to time, claiming that higher rates block investments and the interest rates need to be lowered. 

Özince also noted the bank has faced problems in the Russian market. 

“We have a 15-branch bank in Russia, but have faced some problems there. We lost our appetite in the market,” he added.