It is clear that mortality rates do not increase in parallel to the surging number of cases in countries with relatively high vaccination rates. Accelerating the global vaccination program is also critical to economic normalization. 8  A second important factor for the future is that the post-pandemic economic recovery reveals a considerable variation among countries for reasons such as vaccination and policies implemented. This was also emphasized in the publications of many international institutions and central banks, and it contributes to the supply-demand mismatches and the rise in inflation I highlighted earlier. The relatively slow recovery in the services sector also delays the recovery in employment, which also increases the cost of the pandemic incurred by households. We can minimize all these negative consequences by remaining resolute in the struggle with the pandemic, abiding by the measures and continuing the vaccinations. Employing all policy tools through this process, central banks will continue to achieve price stability and support the postpandemic normalization. Like all central banks, we are closely monitoring the developments regarding the course of the pandemic and its impacts on the global economy. As a result, it is apparent that central banks play an important role both in the past lockdown and the current normalization processes. The recent past revealed that central bank policies were quite effective in ensuring the uninterrupted functioning of the financial system, minimizing the pandemic-led damage suffered by both the banking and the corporate sectors, and capping the economic and social costs of the lockdowns.

Dear Guests, In my speech, after a brief review of the global policy response to the pandemic, I will give information about the measures taken in Turkey and the pandemic-era outlook for the country. The period of normalization, which I will talk about later, is marked by the inflation outlook. In this period, central banks have undertaken the difficult task of controlling inflation without harming economic recovery after having suffered severe costs in terms of growth and employment. In the last part of my speech, I will touch on the risks that remain due to the latest state and course of the pandemic. The rapid spread of the coronavirus around the world caused a significant slowdown in global trade and economic activity. Due to lockdown measures, unlike the 2008 crisis, we saw a more devastating supply shock, and thus, it is safe to say that COVID-19 has been economically more costly. The rapid global spread of COVID-19 affected economies through various channels, causing a sharp contraction in global economic activity. The pandemic first hit the global supply chain and production. Then, mounting uncertainties,  3  tighter financial conditions, household income losses and worsened cash flows of businesses caused demand to weaken substantially. Lockdown measures around the world caused services activity to decline rapidly in March 2020. In the following period, the slowdown also spread to the manufacturing industry as global trade contracted. Both advanced and emerging economies saw a negative decoupling of the services sector due to pandemic measures.