ECONOMY

In Brief

Turkish inflation seen falling to 8.72 percent Turkey’s inflation rate will probably fall to 8.72 percent in 12 months’ time, according to the central bank’s latest survey of businesses and economists. The forecast rose from 8.68 percent two weeks ago, the Ankara-based bank said on its website today. The estimate for inflation in 24 months increased to 7.36 percent from 7.3 percent two weeks earlier, and the year-end forecast rose to 11.04 percent from 11.01 percent, it said. Inflation in July accelerated to 12.1 percent, the fastest in more than four years, from 10.6 percent a month earlier. The central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged on August 14 at 16.75 percent, halting three months of increases as slower economic growth and falling oil prices ease pressure on inflation. (Bloomberg) Moldova’s leu set to register more gains Moldova’s leu, the world’s second best performing currency of the past six months, is the «undiscovered carry trade» that will continue to extend gains as investors are lured to the highest interest rate in continental Europe, Commerzbank AG said. The leu has gained 17 percent against the US dollar and 15 percent versus the euro this year as the former Soviet republic’s central bank raised the benchmark interest rate to 18.5 percent. Inflation in the nation of 4.4 million people, of which about 30 percent live below the poverty line, according to US data, accelerated to a five-year high of 17 percent in May. «Moldova is a real potential carry-trade market,» Michael Ganske, head of emerging-markets research in London at Commerzbank, said in an interview. «The currency will appreciate a lot as the central bank has a strong commitment to controlling inflation and they want to attract foreigners into the country.» (Bloomberg) Farmers peeved Bulgarian farmers temporarily blocked major roads across the country and spilled milk yesterday after the agriculture ministry failed to pay long-delayed subsidies. Producers threatened to block the key mountain pass of Shipka that links southern with northern Bulgaria for an indefinite period if the administration in Sofia kept delaying the payments. Farmers in the European Union newcomer are struggling with high feed prices after a drought slashed crops last year, and after the European Commission froze about 250 million euros ($369.1 million) in pre-accession farm aid over suspected fraud earlier this year. «(Our farms are) in dire state… We do not know how much more we can endure,» Boiko Sinapov, leader of the protests in the southern town of Kurdzhali, said. Last week, hundreds of milk producers rallied in front of the farm ministry in Sofia, threatening revolt and migration of animals to neighboring Greece if they did not receive their March and April subsidies. (Reuters) Deficit drops Romania’s consolidated budget ran a deficit of 0.64 percent of gross domestic product in the first seven months of the year, down from a gap of 1.2 percent in January-June, the finance and economy minister said yesterday. However, the gap could top the European Union’s ceiling of 3 percent of GDP this year due to additional spending plans, the central bank’s chief economist said yesterday. (Reuters)

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