February 18, 2021 - Biz in 60

Turkey's central bank keeps policy rate unchanged at 17% Turkey's central bank has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 17-percent, in line with expectations. Under the newly appointed governor Naci Agbal, the bank has hiked its repo rate by 675 basis points since November in an attempt to reduce inflation. Tighter monetary policy has helped to boost the Turkish lira. Walmart reports strong sales in Q4 thanks to govt stimulus Walmart has reported strong fourth quarter sales thanks to a new round of government stimulus cheques. Total revenue grew by 7-point-3 percent in the three months to the end of January to 152 billion dollars. But shares in Walmart fell as much as 5 percent after the world's largest retailer announced a steep increase in capital spending. Air France-KLM reports $8.5B loss in 2020 due to pandemic Air France-KLM slumped to an 8-and- a-half billion dollar loss in 2020 as the COVID-19 crisis hit air travel demand. Group revenues plunged by nearly 60-percent to 13-point-4 billion dollars, and passenger numbers plummeted 67-percent from a year ago. The airline group is currently in talks with the French and Dutch governments for a new rescue package.