2.9 Communication 

2.9.1 Accountability and Monetary Policy Communication

The CBRT aims at pursuing a simple, transparent and bilateral communication policy to improve the effectiveness of its monetary policy in line with the sustainable price stability objective.

Keeping the public informed about monetary policy actions along with their rationale facilitates a better understanding of the policies and is also conducive to a more credible monetary policy and better anchored expectations.

While working to fulfill the duties assigned by law, the CBRT also makes efforts to provide open and clear communication to fulfill its responsibility towards the society. As required by the principle of accountability, the CBRT continued to publish its analytical balance sheet on its website on a daily basis. The Bank issued a report to share its independently-audited balance sheet and income-expense statements along with the results of the audits. In addition, the rationale for the CBRT’s policy decisions and the consequences of such decisions were also publicly announced through regular reports and presentations.

The CBRT’s main monetary policy communication documents are MPC announcements and Inflation Reports. Through the Inflation Reports published according to a pre-announced calendar every year, the CBRT shares international economic developments, the course of inflation and supply and demand as well as overall assessments concerning financial markets, financial intermediation and public finance along with medium term inflation forecasts through detailed assumptions. These reports also include text boxes dealing with current issues concerning the Turkish economy. Inflation Reports were presented at press conferences on 28 January, 29 April, 29 July and 28 October, in which press members, economists and analysts from Türkiye and abroad participated. Press conferences on the Inflation Report were held virtually on 28 January and 29 April 2021 in line with the protective measures taken due to the coronavirus pandemic. All press conferences were broadcast live on the website and social media accounts of the CBRT as in the past.

The CBRT publicly announces the monetary and exchange rate policy that it will pursue in the following year via the Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy document it releases every year in December. On 29 December 2021, “The Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy for 2022” was published. MPC meetings were held on the scheduled dates specified in the “Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy for 2021” document, and the CBRT continued to post on its website the decisions and the summaries of MPC meetings.

The CBRT’s major activities and changes in implementation that were of significant concern to the public were disclosed by means of 65 press releases in 2021. The leading ones were those that were enforced vis-à-vis the market developments seen in December 2021, namely: “TL-settled Foreign Exchange Forward Sales to Exporting and Importing Companies”, “Encouraging Conversion of FX Deposits to TL Time Deposits” and “Encouraging Conversion of Gold Deposits to Turkish Lira Time Deposits”.

The CBRT shared with the public its perspective on the financial system in light of the recent developments in Türkiye and abroad through the Financial Stability Reports.

To promote better public understanding of monthly inflation developments, the CBRT continued to issue a report on Monthly Price Developments on the first business day following the release of inflation figures.

2.9.2 Communication Activities for the General Public

The CBRT website remained as its main communication channel. Accordingly, efforts were maintained to improve the Bank’s website to meet current technological trends and user demands.

Enriched with visual content, information about the decisions taken by the CBRT were shared with the public through the social media, the Twitter account in particular. Through its YouTube channel, the CBRT also published the Governor’s speeches as well as informative videos prepared for Inflation Reports and Financial Stability Reports. On its Flickr account, the CBRT continued to share photographs from events and activities it organized and attended in 2021.

The CBRT’s corporate blog continued to feature new analyses. The CBRT Blog is located at www.tcmbblog.org and can be followed on Twitter @CBRTBlog.

The CBRT carried out communication activities to introduce the FAST System, the new generation instant payment system available 24/7, which was developed by the CBRT and launched on 8 January 2021. A microsite was designed to this end. Promotion materials were published to be shared on the microsite and social media.

The CBRT continued to respond to requests for information sent through the Right to Information Unit (BES) established under the Right to Information Act, the Presidential Communication Center (CIMER), and the Bank’s e-mail address iletisimbilgi@tcmb.gov.tr. Applications processed duly in 2021 totaled 7,763 through the e-mail address; 12,315 through BES and 10,907 through CİMER.

Changes and improvements introduced to the statistics published by the CBRT in 2021 were announced to the public through the CBRT website and social media channels. The Survey of Expectations, which had been conducted since 2001, was renamed as “Survey of Market Participants” on 11 June 2021 to prevent the public and the press misunderstanding the results of the survey as the CBRT’s institutional expectations and forecasts.

2.9.3 Investor Relations

In 2021, following the previous year’s practice, the CBRT organized meetings with investor agencies and credit rating agencies (CRAs) in the form of videoconferences due to the coronavirus pandemic. Twenty-three investor meetings were held with the participation of domestic and foreign investors, economists, analysts and portfolio managers, and eleven meetings were held with CRAs. A total of 2,387 people were reached in these meetings.