Türkiye's central bank is preparing to hold a major gathering with foreign investors in the United States next month, featuring talks on inflation, monetary policy, financial markets and banking.
Hafize Gaye Erkan, the governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT), will deliver a full day of presentations to investors on monetary policy, inflation and Turkish assets in New York on Jan. 11.
According to an invitation the central bank sent to investors, she will feature in four of the five sessions planned for its "Investor Day" of presentations at the headquarters of Wall Street bank JPMorgan.
Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek will also give a presentation on fiscal policy and the financing outlook.
The event is part of Ankara's efforts to lure foreign investors since it embraced more conventional policymaking after the May elections.
The central bank is nearing the end of a sharp interest rate-hiking cycle that began in June when Erkan and Şimşek were named to their respective roles to reverse a yearslong easing cycle.
The policy aims to arrest soaring inflation, reduce trade deficits, rebuild foreign exchange reserves and stabilize the Turkish lira.
Since June, the central bank has lifted its key rate by 3,150 basis points – including hikes of 500 basis points in the last three months.
As it approaches the end of its cycle, the bank is expected to tighten its policy again on Thursday, but at a slower pace compared to previous months.
Surveys see the authority raising the one-week repo rate by 250 basis points to 42.5%.
The bank said last month that the current policy level is significantly close to what is required to establish the disinflation course, adding the pace of monetary tightening will slow down and the cycle will be completed soon. Inflation runs at nearly 62%.
Boosting foreign investment is a key part of the government's plan and there are early signs of interest.
Erkan – a former Wall Street banker and the first woman to lead Türkiye's central bank – will take questions, discuss policy and the inflation outlook, and moderate a panel on "investors view on Turkish assets," the invitation shows.
Official data showed foreign investors snapped up $1.45 billion (TL 42.17 billion) worth of Turkish assets in the week to Dec. 8, the highest level since July 2017.
Investors added a net of $891.4 million in Turkish domestic government bonds, the highest weekly inflow level since August 2017. Inflows into Turkish stocks climbed to a net $562.4 million, the biggest weekly amount since November 2020.
Amid the improving international sentiment, the cost of insuring Türkiye's debt against default narrowed to a nearly three-year low last week.
Central bank officials told Reuters in late November that Türkiye was seeing an inflow of funds to the lira from large corporate investors based on the West Coast of the United States and that talks with foreign funds indicated such inflows would continue.
