Turkey in March 2026: the most important developments in economy
Turkey's economy in March 2026 was under pressure from the war involving Iran, with the lira and the country's reserves at the centre. Annual inflation exceeded 31% in February. On 6 March Turkey was reported to have spent $12 billion of central bank reserves to support the lira, and on 19 March the central bank wrote an open letter to the government setting out the reasons for persistently high inflation. On 24 March Turkey was reported to be considering using its $135 billion in gold reserves to defend the currency, and data published on 26 March showed the largest drop in gold reserves in seven years, with an $8 billion drawdown linked to trade with Iran. The lira continued to weaken.
Energy flows through Turkey changed repeatedly. Iraq halted crude shipments through the pipeline to the Turkish port of Ceyhan on 3 March, effectively stopping Kurdish oil exports to Turkey. On 17 March Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government agreed to resume exports through the Turkey-Iraq pipeline, which had been shut for more than a year because of a legal dispute, and on 18 March exports of Kirkuk crude via Ceyhan resumed and oil prices eased. Iranian gas flow to Turkey was reported to have stopped after a strike on the South Pars gas field, after President Donald Trump had threatened to destroy the field and later cancelled planned strikes on Iran's energy sites.
The US Justice Department dropped its criminal case against the Turkish state lender Halkbank and reached a settlement over charges of violating US sanctions on Iran, and the bank's shares rose sharply. Turkey increased vegetable exports to Russia. Subsea7 won a contract worth up to $500 million for engineering work on a Turkish gas field, a Turkish firm agreed to produce 800 armoured vehicles jointly in Hungary, and a Turkish company agreed to sell its stake in the Copler gold mine to another Turkish firm for $1.5 billion. Turkish Airlines reported higher full-year profit for 2025 and began direct flights between Istanbul and Yerevan.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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