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2.8 Communication Activities
The CBRT acts diligently to conduct an efficient communication policy, in line with the monetary policy that it implements and the accountability principle borne by the CBRT’s instrumental independence. Communication of the monetary policy implementations and rationale for these implementations to the public is very important because it helps them gain support when they are properly understood by the public and it helps guide expectations in line with the targets in tandem with credibility.
For the CBRT, accountability means being accountable to the public for its decisions, their consequences and its corporate governance. In its role as an independent central bank, the CBRT is responsible for achieving and maintaining price stability and in that capacity it has responsibilities towards society as well. In 2017, the Bank continued to engage in efforts to ensure that its actions and intentions were accessible to and correctly understood by everyone. The CBRT also sought to enhance its own credibility and effectiveness.
Rules governing the CBRT accountability are stipulated in article 42 of the Bank Law No. 1211. As required by the principle of accountability, the CBRT continued to publish its analytical balance sheet on its website on a daily basis throughout 2017. The CBRT issued a report explaining the results of the independent audits of its balance sheet and income statement. Similarly, the rationale for CBRT policy decisions and the repercussions of such decisions were also publicly announced through regular reports and presentations.
Under the current monetary policy implementation, the CBRT’s main communication tools are the Monetary Policy Committee releases and the Inflation Reports. Inflation Reports are published on a pre‑announced calendar and contain information about international economic developments; inflation outlook, supply and demand conditions, general assessments concerning financial markets, financial intermediation, and public finance; and the medium‑term inflation forecasts. These reports also included thematic text boxes dealing with current issues concerning the Turkish economy. In 2017, the CBRT Inflation Reports were presented at briefings on 31 January and 1 August in Ankara and on 28 April and 1 November in Istanbul. All of the year’s Inflation Report Briefings were broadcast live on the CBRT website and the proceedings were simultaneously translated into English for non‑Turkish audiences.
In 2017, the CBRT posted on its website the MPC decisions on short-term interest rates and other monetary policy instruments along with summaries of MPC meetings held on scheduled dates specified in the “Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy for 2017” document. The CBRT announced its Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy for 2018 on 5 December 2017. Information about the CBRT’s most important activities and about changes in implementation that were of significant concern to the public were disclosed by means of 51 press releases.
To help promote better public understanding of monthly inflation developments, the CBRT also continued to issue the Monthly Price Developments Report on the first business day following the release of the inflation figures.
Another communication channel that the CBRT uses is its Financial Stability Report, which is also released according to a pre‑announced schedule. In 2017, the Bank posted the Financial Stability Reports on its website on 30 May and 30 November. In the Financial Stability Reports, the CBRT shared its perspective on the overall financial sector with respect to the most recent financial stability developments in Turkey and abroad.
In 2017, the CBRT prepared publications in printed and electronic formats and disseminated them through a variety of channels. Last year, the Bank continued to publish the quarterly CBRT Bulletin that it uses to inform different audiences about its policy implementations, its corporate structure, activities, and publications. This periodical appears once every three months and is published in Turkish (TCMB Bülten) and English (CBRT Bulletin) editions.
As part of direct communication activities, in 2017, Governor Murat Çetinkaya conducted a program of domestic and international presentations and speeches concerning CBRT policies and practices and current economic developments. Governor Çetinkaya took part in a variety of meetings and conferences and explained CBRT policies to audiences. The texts of these presentations and speeches and video recordings of some of the speeches are accessible on the CBRT website.
The CBRT continued to use its website to meet the information needs of various target groups, to manage the website in line with its effective communication strategy, and to enrich the website’s content.
In 2017, the CBRT kept a close watch on current technological developments in communication and continued to make use of social media as well as other online and multimedia tools in order to interact with the public. One of the focal points of the CBRT communication activities last year was to make the published policy documents and reports produced by the Bank understandable by all segments of the public. In line with this, statements concerning policy measures, the reports, and data were worded in a clearer, simpler, and straightforward way so that they could be understood not just by specialists but by the general public. Multimedia tools such as infographics, visual summaries, and video clips were also used for the same purpose.
The CBRT Electronic Data Delivery System (EDDS) was renewed in 2017 and appeared in its new look on October 20th. In the redesign of the EDDS, the goal was to maintain existing services while also adding new features that took into account user needs that had been identified in website satisfaction surveys. In its renewed form, users can generate dynamic reports and charts from the EDDS database and even take part in the report-generation process by making changes in the visual and content aspects of tables and charts in line with their own needs.
Located at tcmbblog.org, the CBRT corporate blog provides a channel through which bank professionals share their views with the public, open these views to discussion, and provide timely contributions to the economic agenda. New analyses and videos continued to be published on the blog during the year.
In 2017 the CBRT also continued to make more active use of social media and to enrich the postings in its accounts with visual materials. The Bank made intensive and effective use of its Twitter account in particular.
On the CBRT Facebook page, with the content provided under the “Question of the Week” and “Term of the Week” headings the Bank aimed to inform users about basic economic and monetary‑policy concepts. Visual material consisting of selections from the CBRT art collection was also shared through this account. Through its Flickr account, the CBRT continued to share photographs from events and activities organized by the Bank. Besides, the CBRT continued to publish a variety of informational videos on Governor’s speeches, the Bank’s Inflation Report, Financial Stability Report, and Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy for 2018 as well as on various CBRT events on its YouTube channel.
In 2017 the CBRT launched “Herkes İçin Ekonomi (Economics for All) initiative to introduce monetary policy and economic concepts. Believing that economics education should begin at an early age just like instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic, the CBRT has started to play an active role in economics education by teaching such concepts as “money”, “inflation”, and “central bank” to everyone from primary school on up.
As part of this overall effort, the CBRT has developed a program of visits aimed at primary school children. Under this program, which began in Ankara in the fall term of the 2017-2018 academic year, 60 volunteer CBRT employees, having received a brief pedagogic training, began conducting visits to local schools. During these visits the volunteers explained money, inflation, and central banking topics to about 2,000 fourth-grade pupils and they also passed out booklets, activity workbooks, and information leaflets on banknotes that explained these subjects in a language and style that their audience could understand.
Within the scope of the “Economics for All” program, a variety of publications intended for other target audiences were also prepared. These include booklets on the subjects of money, central banking, inflation, and savings for primary and middle‑school pupils; an activity workbook for primary school children; and “Why is Price Stability Important for You?”, a publication for high school students. These publications as well as information leaflets and the poster on banknotes, designed to familiarize school children with banknotes are also available on the CBRT website.
Recognizing that university students also constitute an important target audience for its “Economics for All” program, the CBRT conducts “University Gatherings” with renewed content at its Head Office building in Ankara. Under this program, participants are informed about the monetary policy framework and central banking as well as about career opportunities at the CBRT. In 2017, the program was renewed in order to better interact with these students and to convey content to them in a more entertaining manner through the use of video clips, animated movie clips, and games. During 2017, approximately 1,800 students from 35 universities attended the CBRT University Gatherings.
Regarding relations with financial institutions and credit rating agencies (CRA’s), 2017 was a very productive year for the CBRT. Throughout the year, 57 technical‑level face‑to‑face meetings with investors were held at the Bank’s Head Office, in line with the Bank’s new communication strategy, which was announced in July 2016. During those meetings, the CBRT met with 303 investors, analysts and economists, representing 162 financial institutions. In the same period, eight meetings were held with CRA officials, five of which were teleconferences.
Table 2.8.4.1: Meetings Held in 2017
Period |
Meetings with CRAs |
Meetings with Investor Agencies |
Number of Investor Agencies |
Total Number of People Attending |
|---|---|---|---|---|
January-March 2017 |
4 |
13 |
49 |
88 |
April-June 2017 |
1 |
10 |
24 |
43 |
July-September 2017 |
1 |
17 |
57 |
102 |
October-December 2017 |
2 |
17 |
32 |
70 |
In addition to the meetings that took place at the CBRT Head Office, the Bank participated to an investor meeting organization in London in February and also to a number of such meetings held in Washington DC in April and October.
In keeping with the CBRT’s ongoing efforts to utilize every possible channel, in order to communicate effectively with all of its stakeholders, preparations of the technical infrastructure needed to conduct webcasts were completed and in October, one English and one Turkish webcasts about the CBRT’s new EDDS were held. Moreover, the CBRT collaborated with the Turkish Investor Relations Society (TUYID) to enhance the Bank’s technical knowledge regarding investor relations and also to provide non‑CBRT professionals working in this field with information about the Turkish economy and monetary policy issues. In this framework, a “meet‑and‑greet” gathering on “The ABC of Investor Relations” was held with board members of the TUYID at the CBRT in March and a seminar on “The Role of Investor Relations in CBRT Policies and Practices” was held in October in Istanbul.
