Turkey Shelves Plans to Tax Gains From Stocks and Crypto Market
(Bloomberg) - Turkey is not considering an additional tax package for this year, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said, ruling out a levy on profits from stocks trading or cryptocurrencies.
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"We don't have a stocks tax on our agenda. It was discussed previously and fell from our agenda," Yilmaz told Bloomberg on Monday. Officials' focus in the coming period is on "narrowing" tax exemptions, he said.
Initial plans to tax gains from profits in the stock market — a popular retail investment to hedge against inflation — had put pressure on equities earlier this year. After a public backlash, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said in June that the work would be "re-evaluated" at a later time.
Yilmaz's comments are likely to provide reassurance to stock investors. Trading on the country's main stock has fallen to $2.3 billion in the past month from more than $4 billion earlier this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Repairing public finances is a crucial pillar of Turkey's economic shift that seeks to bring inflation down to single digits from 52% over the next three years. Investors are watching for additional government plans to cut spending and tame the budget that ballooned last year because of deadly earthquakes and pre-election giveaways.
Yilmaz said there had been a "serious improvement" in the ratio of public spending to national income.
Other highlights from the interview:
Offshore swap regulations, which limit the amount of lira liquidity abroad to prevent investors from shorting the lira, will be removed "when the conditions arise"
There could be "short-term challenges" in balancing economic growth and inflation, but "in the long-run, they are not contradictory"
"It is natural in countries fighting inflation for their currencies to strengthen," Yilmaz said when asked about whether the lira is overvalued
The government will assess the impact of inflation accounting on investments and discuss how it will continue to be applied for next year
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