Connect with us
Sunday,15-November-2026
Breaking News

Business

Turkey further cuts rates, lira dips to new record low

Published

on

The Turkish central bank lowered interest rates for the third successive month despite high inflation, causing the embattled national currency lira to sink to new historic lows against the US dollar.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the bank decided during a key meeting to lower the benchmark interest rate to 15 per cent with a cut of 100 basis points.

The bank has previously lowered rates by 300 basis points since August, in line with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s belief that higher interest rates result in higher prices, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Wednesday, ahead of the MPC meeting, Erdogan reiterated his hostility to high rates, vowing in the Parliament that he would battle it “until the end.” Meanwhile, he also vowed to take measures to protect the low-income groups in the face of rising living costs.

Following the MPC’s decision of cutting rate, Turkish lira dipped to a fresh record low of 11.2 against the greenback.

The lira suffered one of its biggest falls of the year on Tuesday, losing about 4 per cent against the dollar, and traded at 10.45 per dollar, four days after it passed the physiological mark of 10 per dollar.

Turkey’s large short-term external debts and low foreign currency reserves mean that it is one of the most vulnerable emerging markets to tighter external financing conditions.

“In the upcoming 12 months period, Turkey has to repay (external) debts amounting to $167 billion, thus it needs foreign currency… in this context, the lira will not be returning to former levels,” independent Economist Mustafa Sonmez told Xinhua.

Many big companies have euro or dollar-denominated loans, and their repayment in the coming months may pose problems with the devaluation of the Turkish currency, analysts warned.

The inflation, which is under 20 per cent annually, the highest rate in years, is causing price increases which in turn results in higher costs for imports, fuel and basic household goods, all of which are now much more expensive.

With the arrival of winter, “the rise in global oil and natural gas prices also increases Turkey’s energy bill,” said Enver Erkan, Chief Economist at Istanbul’s Tera Securities.

Erkan said in a note to investors that the rise in energy bills will in turn increase inflation, giving rise to a vicious circle for households.

During his 19-year rule, Erdogan had offered economic stability to Turks until a currency meltdown in 2018, which resulted in high inflation and unemployment.

The lira has lost 30 per cent of its value since the start of 2021. It has been put under further strain by concerns that the US Federal Reserve may raise interest rates sooner than expected.

In a supermarket in the capital city Ankara’s Hilal neighbourhood, young employee Hamit Tekin told Xinhua that he is busy changing price tags on food items the recent days because of the successive price hikes.

“For me, it’s my job, but for clients, it’s a very real burden. Consumers complain about the price hike and the difficulties of making ends meet,” he added.

Business

US flight disruption: Air India advises passengers to check latest status

Published

on

New Delhi : Air India on Saturday advised passengers to check the latest status of their flights and plan their journey to the airport accordingly, amid massive disruption at the US airports. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lifted a nationwide ground stop that had halted departures at US airports after a communications failure, though airlines warned that disruption and cancellations could continue.

“A nationwide ground stop is currently in effect across the US due to communication outages affecting air traffic operations. As a result, departures from airports across US are impacted, with possible consequential disruptions to Air India flights to and from the US,” Air India said in a statement posted on X. “Our teams continue to closely monitor the situation and will share updates as available,” it added. The cancellation of US flights happened after a communications problem affected air traffic operations. The notice announcing the cancellation did not specify the cause of the failure or say that airline schedules had returned to normal.

Earlier, the FAA’s Air Traffic Control System Command Center said the ground stop remained in effect across a large portion of the country, although some coastal facilities had been able to release international departures. In an update, American Airlines said some flights from certain airports were beginning to receive clearance to depart. At that point, most departures remained paused, and the airline expected further disruption, including unavoidable cancellations. American advised customers to check their flight status and review its travel alert for options. Its warning was issued before the FAA’s cancellation advisory. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters earlier that officials had acted as a precaution following a telecommunications outage affecting the FAA. “There is no indication as of yet that this was a nefarious attack,” he said at the time. That preliminary assessment did not rule out a cyberattack.

Continue Reading

General

FBI warns AI tool can speed up cyberattacks

Published

on

Washington : The FBI has warned that cybercriminals are using an artificial intelligence-assisted security testing tool to accelerate attacks on organisations around the world, with some intrusions reaching privileged access in less than three hours. In an alert issued on Friday (local time), the bureau said malicious actors had used the open-source framework, known as ARTEX, since at least August to target organisations across sectors including finance, government, technology, defence, energy and health care. The FBI said the tool can automate several stages of an intrusion, from identifying potential targets to preparing or carrying out data theft. That speed can leave defenders less time to detect and respond to an attack, it said.

The alert said some intrusions progressed from initial targeting to privileged access in under three hours. According to the alert, the framework was originally intended for authorised security testing. Its developer removed the original online repository in October following reports of malicious use, but copies and variants remained available, the FBI said. The bureau said the tool could lower the technical barriers for conducting complex operations and allow attackers to pursue multiple targets at the same time. Organisations’ internet-facing applications, cloud infrastructure and systems connected to suppliers or partners were among the areas of concern identified in the alert.

The FBI cited financially motivated attacks on South Korean financial institutions that it said resulted in personal information being taken from approximately 67,000 people. It also described a separate supply-chain compromise affecting users of a cloud backup service, which it said enabled access to more than 2,250 downstream customer environments. The bureau encouraged organisations to review their exposure to the internet, strengthen identity and access controls, monitor unusual activity and protect credentials. It also urged organisations that identify suspicious activity to contact the FBI or report it through the Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Continue Reading

Business

India’s forex reserves climb $2.49 billion to $719.5 billion, gold holdings surge to $104.8 billion

Published

on

India’s foreign exchange reserves rose by $2.49 billion to reach $719.547 billion in the week ended November 6, according to data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday.

This increase follows consecutive weeks of decline, during which the reserves had slipped from $722.3 billion in the week ended October 17 to $717.057 billion by October 30.

The uptick in reserves was primarily driven by a sharp rise in gold holdings, which surged by $2.205 billion to $104.796 billion during the week, the RBI data showed.

Foreign currency assets, which form the largest component of India’s forex reserves, also rose by $232 million to $591.350 billion.

These assets are influenced by changes in the value of non-US currencies such as the euro, pound, and yen that are held in the reserves.

India’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the International Monetary Fund climbed by $52 million to $18.610 billion, while the country’s reserve position with the IMF increased by $1 million to $4.791 billion.

In rupee terms, the country’s total foreign exchange reserves stood at Rs 67,58,986 crore as of November 6.

Notably, the weekly increase in dollar terms came even as the reserves declined by Rs 49,742 crore in rupee terms, as per the data.

India’s forex reserves had previously touched an all-time high of $785.7 billion in the week ended September 4, following significant foreign currency inflows through a special concessional swap scheme for diaspora deposits.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, the central bank eased the foreign exchange reporting requirements for small exporters and importers of services.

Under the amended Foreign Exchange Management (Export and Import of Goods and Services) Regulations, 2026, individual service exporters will be deemed to have submitted the Export Declaration Form (EDF) once they provide the required payment-related information to their authorised dealer bank for crediting the proceeds to their accounts.

For exporters other than resident individuals, the same treatment will apply if the inward remittance for the service is not more than Rs 10 lakh or its equivalent in foreign currency.

Continue Reading

Trending