An Overview of 2017

FOCUSING ON PRICE STABILITY

In line with its primary objective of achieving price stability, the CBRT continued to make use of an appropriate mix of monetary policy and liquidity tools in such a way as to support the predictability of monetary policy.

• Exchange rate volatilities at the beginning of 2017 and their impact on the inflation outlook set the tone of monetary policy decisions early in the year. In January 2017, interest rates were raised.
• One-week repo auctions ceased to be held as of 12 January 2017.
• In order to make Turkish lira and foreign currency liquidity management more flexible and to increase the variety of tools available for it, a “Foreign Exchange Deposits Against Turkish Lira Deposits Market” was launched on 17 January 2017.
• The Late Liquidity Window (LLW) lending interest rate, which was 10 percent at the beginning of 2017, was raised to 11.75 percent in March and to 12.25 percent in April. The LLW became an increasingly greater component of the CBRT’s funding composition as the year progressed.
• Turkish Lira (TL)-Settled Forward Foreign Exchange Auctions were initiated on 20 November 2017 in order to effectively manage the real sector’s exchange rate risk.
• In December, a decision was made to further tighten the bank’s monetary stance and the cost of funding was raised to 12.75 percent.
• The predictability of monetary policy was significantly enhanced by consistently directing much of the Bank’s funding through a single channel all year long in 2017.
• Export rediscount credit borrowers were given the opportunity to repay specified portions of their obligations in Turkish liras that were converted at fixed rates.

BEING STRAIGHTFORWARD, PLAIN, AND UNDERSTANDABLE

• More effective use was made of the CBRT Blog in 2017.
• The blog seeks to provide clear, simple, and straightforward information about policy measures, and about published reports and data that is understandable not just to experts but to everybody. To accomplish this, active use is made of multimedia tools such as infographics, visual summaries, and videos as well as of social media accounts.
• An initiative called Herkes İçin Ekonomi [Economics For All] was launched to reach out to different target audiences through financial literacy and economics education activities.
• In the scope of financial education, information meetings were held for university students, schools were visited, and various other associated activities were carried out.
• Face-to-face and technical-level meetings were held with domestic and international investors, analysts, and economists in order to contribute to the understandability of CBRT policies.

BEING ACCESSIBLE & DIRECTLY ENGAGED

• As a part of its efforts to understand and keep track of the real sector, the CBRT engaged in close communication with real-sector actors. The Bank got first-hand information from firms through face-to-face discussions with their representatives.
• In line with its goal of maintaining effective communication channels with the real sector, the CBRT founded regional offices in Adana, Ankara, Istanbul (Asian side), Istanbul (European side), and Izmir.
• The efforts of the Food Committee, for which the CBRT serves as the secretariat, have begun to have a positive impact.
• The CBRT has been statutorily authorized to demand any and all manner of information and documents that will help it to monitor transactions that affect the foreign currency positions of real persons and legal entities.

INCREASING EFFICIENCY BY USING TECHNOLOGY MORE EFFECTIVELY

• The CBRT’s Electronic Data Delivery System (EDDS) was put into service on 20 October after undergoing a makeover. One of the improvements includes a feature that allows users to generate reports according to their particular requirements.
• In order to make more active use of state-of-the-art communication tools, preparations were completed for the installation of the technical infrastructure needed for webcasts. Two webcasts introducing the new EDDS were presented in 2017.
• The CBRT Information Technologies Department carried out a large number of infrastructure and other projects.
• Project-based R&D work was carried out at the CBRT Banknote Printing Plant in order to contribute to improvements in the Bank’s banknote production processes.
• The Cash Management System ensured increased automation and reduced costs and risks through the use of more effective information flows in the CBRT’s banknote collection and disbursement transactions with banks.
• The CBRT’s registered email address (merkezbankasi@hs02.kep.tr) was made generally available for sending and receiving all email messages and documents that bear electronic signatures.
• All documents and files dating back to the establishment of the CBRT in 1931 that were previously maintained in separate Head Office and branch archives have been recorded in electronic format and are now being kept in the corporate archives of the now operational CBRT Archive Management System.

BEING EFFECTIVE IN THE INTERNATIONAL ARENA

• International conferences and meetings were organized and attention was given to regional cooperation efforts.
• The CBRT played an active role in international gatherings such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s Meeting of Central Banks and Monetary Authorities, and the Governors’ Club Meeting.
• Attention was given to increasing communication and bilateral cooperation with other central banks.
• The scope of the CBRT’s international collaboration network was expanded with the signing of new memorandums of understanding.

HAVING CULTURAL, ARTISTIC, AND SOCIAL AWARENESS

• Exhibitions of outstanding works selected from the CBRT Art Collection were held abroad.
• An international photography contest, “Economy and the Human Being”, was organized, attracting a large number of submissions from thirty countries.
• The CBRT engaged in social responsibility activities and continued to contribute to academic studies by providing grants and support.
• The seventh in the series of “Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey Research Awards” was handed out in support of the Bank’s efforts to fund academic work in the areas of the Turkish economy, emerging economies, and central banking and to make such studies accessible to wider audiences.
• The Bank organized a variety of sport and social events in Turkey while also participating in activities that were conducted abroad.