Turkey has a new central bank governor: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appointed Fatih Karahan (bio) as the new head of the country’s central bank after its former governor Hafize Gaye Erkan stepped down, claiming to be facing a smear campaign from local media, Bloomberg wrote.

About Karahan: He has experience working as an economist at the New York Fed and Amazon. He taught at Columbia University and New York University and received his PHD in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. He has been serving as the central bank’s deputy governor since July 2023.

Too much change for an already fragile economy: Erkan held the position for a mere eight months but resigned following allegations that her father was involved in the bank’s affairs. The TRY fell against the greenback following the news, dipping 0.5% to 30.5 per USD — the currency is down 23% against the USD since Erkan assumed her position in June.

ALSO ON PLANET FINANCE-Plans laid for delayed Reddit IPO: Social media platform Reddit has chosen the New York Stock Exchange for its market debut penciled in for March. The company is aiming for an initial valuation of USD 5 bn when it goes public, down from a USD 10 bn valuation in 2021, an unnamed source told the Financial Times.

EGX30

28,434

+0.5% (YTD: +14.2%)

USD (CBE)

Buy 30.83

Sell 30.96

USD at CIB

Buy 30.85

Sell 30.95

Interest rates CBE

21.25% deposit

22.25% lending

Tadawul

11,914

+1.0% (YTD: -0.4%)

ADX

9,456

-0.1% (YTD: -1.3%)

DFM

4,229

+0.2% (YTD: +4.2%)

S&P 500

4,959

+1.1% (YTD: +4.0%)

FTSE 100

7,616

-0.1% (YTD: -1.5%)

Euro Stoxx 50

4,655

+0.3% (YTD: +2.9%)

Brent crude

USD 77.33

-1.7%

Natural gas (Nymex)

USD 2.08

+1.4%

Gold

USD 2,054

-0.8%

BTC

USD 43,050

-0.1% (YTD: +1.8%)

THE CLOSING BELL-

The EGX30 rose 0.5% on Thursday’s closeon turnover of EGP 5.2 bn (49.7% above the 90-day average). Regional investors were net sellers. The index is up 14.2% YTD.

In the green: Delta Sugar (+8.6%), Juhayna (+6.8%) and Madinet Masr (+6.2%).

In the red: Egypt Kuwait Holding (-8.3%), CIB (-3.5%) and Eastern Company (-2.3%).

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