In 2016, the CBRT prepared several publications to promote its policy implementations and made these publications available in print and electronic format. In this framework, the CBRT published a booklet on “Structural Reforms and Their Impact on Growth” (available only in Turkish) and circulated it to banks, universities’ economics departments, libraries, non-governmental organizations and various institutions in Turkey. The CBRT also continued to publish the quarterly CBRT Bulletin, which informs different segments of the public about the CBRT’s policy implementations, its corporate structure, activities and publications. The Bulletin reaches a wide audience in Turkey and abroad and is also available on the CBRT website. In addition, a factsheet was published on the CBRT website in both Turkish and English with a view to familiarizing the public with CBRT policies and implementations.

The CBRT continued to use its website to meet the information needs of various target groups, to manage the website in line with the effective communication strategy and to work on ways to enrich content through collaboration with related departments. The Bank also posted on the website various multimedia contents pertaining to the reports published.

In 2016, the CBRT closely followed the latest technological developments in the field of communication and continued its communication practices by using social media as well as by developing other online and multimedia tools. In this respect, four main developments are prominent. Firstly, videos and infographics were prepared to present important policy texts such as the Inflation Reports, the Financial Stability Reports and the annual Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy texts. These videos and infographics were posted on both the CBRT website and the social media accounts. The use of these channels was intended to allow the presentation of such technical texts with a content and design that would address the general public.

Secondly, on 18 April 2016, the CBRT introduced the mobile application that it had developed for mobile devices with iOS and Android operating systems. This mobile application provides information on Turkish lira banknotes along with their security features and an inquiry screen for counterfeit Turkish lira banknotes, the CBRT exchange rates, selected economic indicators and market data, press releases and publications as well as information regarding the CBRT history and its management. The CBRT Mobile Application was publicized through social media channels and it is available on Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Thirdly, on 1 December 2016, the CBRT launched its corporate blog, the CBRT Blog, devised to allow its employees to share their views with the public, open these views to discussion and provide timely contribution to the economic agenda. The blog, which is published in Turkish and English, is composed of the Analyses, Concepts, Visual Library, Notebook and Art Collection sections. The Visual Library link offers videos introducing the articles of the blog writers as well as videos and infographics related to the Bank’s main policy texts, policies and statistics. The CBRT Blog is available on www.tcmbblog.org and the Twitter account of @TCMBBlog.

Lastly, in 2016, the CBRT started to use social media more actively and to enrich its postings with visual content. The Twitter account of the Bank in particular was intensely used, with sharing of infographics, visual summaries and images. As a consequence, the number of followers of the CBRT’s Turkish Twitter account reached 54,000. Meanwhile, the Turkish Twitter account of the Bank was verified by Twitter in 2016.

As for the Facebook account, the Bank adopted a new publication policy. The account, used for introducing Central Bank and economy-related concepts, was enriched with contents on Question of the Week, Term of the Week and Art Collection. Additionally, photos of informative programs for university students were shared on Facebook and Flickr. Besides, the Governor’s Remarks as well as various infographic videos on the Inflation Report, the Financial Stability Report and the Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy for 2017 were shared with the public through the YouTube channel.

In 2016, the CBRT continued to respond to requests for information sent through the Unit on the Right to Information, the Communication Center of the Prime Ministry (BIMER), the Communication Center of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey (CIMER) via tcmbcimer@tcmb.gov.tr and its electronic mail address, iletisimbilgi@tcmb.gov.tr, which was introduced specifically to ensure communication with individuals, institutions and establishments outside the Bank. Throughout 2016, a total of 4,685 applications were responded to via the Right to Information System, 565 applications via BIMER, 80 applications via CIMER and approximately 7,500 applications via iletisimbilgi@tcmb.gov.tr.