The Turkish manufacturing capacity utilisation rate (CUR) dropped to 72.8% in February from 73.7% in January, the Central Bank said on February 23. The CUR was 73.3% in February 2014. The seasonally-adjusted CUR also edged down to 74.1% in February from 74.6% a month ago.

The durable consumer goods industry saw its CUR decline from 68.1% in January to 67% in February while the capacity usage in the consumer goods fell from 71.9% to 70.1%. The food industry’s CUR was 69.2% in February versus 72.2% in January and the intermediate goods CUR edged down to 74.9% from 75.4%. The capital goods industry reported a CUR of 72.6% for February, comparing unfavourably with the capacity utilisation rate of 73.3% in January.

The headline HSBC Turkey Manufacturing PMI fell for the second month, running to 49.8 in January, from 51.4 in December, suggesting that economic activity is not strong enough yet.

On February 23, economy minister Nihat Zeybekci once again called for rate cuts. He expects the Central Bank to take steps to reduce interest rates and encourage markets, Zeybekci said. Recent polls by Reuters and Cnbc-e have showed that most analysts expect the Central Bank to deliver a cut between 25bps and 50bps in the main policy rate (one-week repo, currently at 7.75%) at the monetary policy committee meeting on February 24. Most economists also predict a 50pbs reduction in the O/N borrowing rates, currently at 7.5%.