Trump administration imposes 20%-50% tariffs on Turkish imports due to a recent spat over the detention of an American pastor.

Apple Boston

2018-08-11 14:35:00 Sat ET

The Trump administration imposes 20%-50% tariffs on Turkish imports due to a recent spat over the detention of an American pastor, Andrew Brunson, in Turkey. Also, the Trump administration introduces new economic sanctions on ministers in President Recep Erdogan's government. As a result, the Turkish lira dramatically depreciates by more than 17% and causes investor concerns and worries about the shortage of foreign reserves in Turkey. The Turkish lira has lost 40% foreign exchange value against the greenback in the recent interim period from early-2018 to August 2018.

Despite 15% high inflation and both fiscal and current-account deficits, the Turkish central bank remains reluctant to raise the interest rate in order to support the weak currency. As the lira nosedives, the Turkish banking regulator puts restrictions on dollar-lira currency swaps to make it harder for offshore investors bet against the currency. The latest liquidity measures may provide some capital buffer to cushion the lira against speculative moves. In the absence of an outright orthodox interest rate hike, however, this strategy remains insufficient to provide complete protection for the lira in rare times of financial distress.

In response, President Erdogan states that Turkey will boycott American electronic products such as Apple's flagship iPhones. Moreover, the Erdogan administration imposes hefty retaliatory tariffs on key U.S. imports such as rice, coal, automobile, alcohol, and tobacco. These events push the Turkish economy toward a full-blown financial meltdown.

Turkey serves as a core international hub for shipping goods between Europe and Asia, African refugee inflows to Germany and other parts of Europe, and China's Belt-and-Road economic program. In many ways, the recent Turkish lira crisis is quite similar to the Asian financial crisis back in 1997, the Argentine peso crisis in 1998, and the more recent Russian ruble crisis in 2014.

When Turkey fails to fly, many European and Asian emerging-markets experience sharp stock and bond capital shrinkage and lower currency valuation. The negative ripple effects create contagion from the Asian countries such as India, Iran, and Israel to South European countries such as Greece, Italy, and the Vatican City.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Apple adds fresh features to its new iPad Pro and MacBook Air in addition to its prior suite of iPhones.

Joseph Corr

2018-11-03 11:36:00 Saturday ET

Apple adds fresh features to its new iPad Pro and MacBook Air in addition to its prior suite of iPhones.

Apple adds fresh features to its new iPad Pro and MacBook Air in addition to its prior suite of iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR back in September 20

+See More

Facebook reaches a $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over Cambridge Analytica user privacy violations.

Monica McNeil

2019-08-12 07:30:00 Monday ET

Facebook reaches a $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over Cambridge Analytica user privacy violations.

Facebook reaches a $5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over Cambridge Analytica user privacy violations. The Federal Trade Commission (F

+See More

There are several highlights from the first news conference after Trump's presidential election victory.

Monica McNeil

2017-01-23 09:30:00 Monday ET

There are several highlights from the first news conference after Trump's presidential election victory.

There are several highlights from the first news conference after Trump's presidential election victory: The Trump administration will repeal-and-

+See More

Conor McGregor learns a major money lesson from LeBron James.

Daisy Harvey

2019-08-07 12:33:00 Wednesday ET

Conor McGregor learns a major money lesson from LeBron James.

Conor McGregor learns a major money lesson from LeBron James. This lesson suggests that James spends about $1.5 million on his own body each year. The $1.5

+See More

New York Fed CEO John Williams listens to sharp share price declines as part of the data-dependent interest rate policy.

Dan Rochefort

2019-01-02 06:28:00 Wednesday ET

New York Fed CEO John Williams listens to sharp share price declines as part of the data-dependent interest rate policy.

New York Fed CEO John Williams listens to sharp share price declines as part of the data-dependent interest rate policy. The Federal Reserve can respond to

+See More

Fed's new chairman Jerome Powell testifies before Congress for the first time.

Rose Prince

2018-02-27 09:35:00 Tuesday ET

Fed's new chairman Jerome Powell testifies before Congress for the first time.

Fed's new chairman Jerome Powell testifies before Congress for the first time. He vows to prevent price instability for U.S. consumers, firms, and finan

+See More