JEDDAH: A second member of Qatar’s ruling family has joined calls for a national meeting of Qataris to resolve the dispute with its Gulf neighbors.
Appearing on Sky News Arabia, Sheikh Sultan bin Suhaim Al-Thani repeated the plea made on Sunday by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani.
“Since the crisis started I have been living in Paris after I could no longer tolerate seeing strangers roaming our country and interfering in our affairs under the pretext of protecting us from our brothers in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states,” Sheikh Sultan said.
“It is our national duty now to unite and stand together to purge the country of them.”
Because of mistakes made by the Qatari government, he said, “I have all fears that the Qatari identity will be linked to terrorism.”
The sheikh is the son of Qatar’s foreign minister from 1972 to 1985, Sheikh Suhaim bin Hamad Al-Thani, a noted reformer who helped Qatar resolve many disputes.
Sheikh Sultan said he was saddened to see the Qatari government incubating terrorist organizations and giving them shelter and a platform for their deviant and evil intentions.
“And in that regard I am totally supportive of Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani’s call for a Qatari national meeting, and I hope that the rest of the ruling family and the country’s dignitaries will follow suit in order to immunize our country against the hateful.”
The dispute began in June, when the Anti-Terror Quartet comprising Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic relations and imposed a trade and travel boycott over Qatar’s financing of terrorist groups and interference in its neighbors’ internal affairs.
On Sunday, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Thani urged the people of Qatar to be “the messengers of peace” in the crisis.
He said he felt pain at seeing the dispute going from bad to worse, and called for a meeting at Qatari national level to discuss a crisis “which we can no longer remain silent in.”
Sheikh Abdullah has been active in trying to resolve the crisis, and has met King Salman twice since it began. He obtained Saudi support to open borders during Hajj.
Qatar's Sheikh Sultan bin Suhaim Al-Thani joins calls for meeting to end Gulf crisis
Qatar's Sheikh Sultan bin Suhaim Al-Thani joins calls for meeting to end Gulf crisis
Turkiye to forge on with tight economic policy, some fine-tuning, VP Yilmaz says
- The central bank forecasts inflation between 13-19 percent by end-2026
ISTANBUL: Turkiye is committed to carrying on its tight economic policies in order to cool inflation, and though it may fine-tune the program it will not change course, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said in comments embargoed to Friday.
“There is no plan to pause our program,” Yilmaz said at a briefing with reporters in Istanbul on Thursday. “All programs are dynamic, and adjustments can always be made.”
Yilmaz, who plays a key role overseeing economic policy at the presidency, said any such adjustments would aim to support production, investment and exports while moderating consumption.
Turkiye has pursued tight monetary and fiscal policies for more than two years in order to reduce price pressure, leading to high financing and borrowing costs that have weighed on businesses and households. Inflation has eased slowly but steadily over the last year but remains elevated at 31 percent annually.
Last month, Is Bank CEO Hakan Aran warned that focusing solely on one target — inflation — could create side effects, suggesting a “pause and restart” might be healthy once the program achieves certain targets.
Yılmaz said the government expects improvements in inflation in the first quarter, which should reflect to market expectations for year-end inflation around 23 percent. The government projects inflation to dip as far as 16 percent by year end, within a 13-19 percent range, and falling to 9 percent in 2027. The central bank forecasts inflation between 13-19 percent by end-2026.
Yilmaz noted inflation fell by nearly 45 points despite pressure from elevated food prices, hit by agricultural frost and drought.
The agricultural sector is expected to support growth and help ease price rises this year, which could help achieve official inflation targets, he said.
Yilmaz said the government wants to avoid a rapid drop in inflation that could hurt economic growth, jobs and social stability.
Turkiye’s economic program was established in 2023 after years of unorthodox easy money that aimed to stoke growth but that sent inflation soaring and the lira plunging. The program aims to dislodge high inflation expectations while boosting production and exports, in order to address long-standing current account deficits.
The central bank, having raised interest rates as high as 50 percent in 2024, eased policy through most of last year, bringing the key rate down to 38 percent.
Asked whether lower rates could trigger an exit from the lira currency, Yilmaz said: “What matters is real interest rates. Lowering rates as inflation falls does not affect real rates, so we do not expect such an impact.”
He added that the government will strengthen mechanisms that selectively support companies while improving overall financial conditions.
