Market pressure keeps Babacan in new Turkish Cabinet
Turkey’s much-respected economy chief, Ali Babacan, retains his post in Turkey’s new Cabinet despite in-house tensions, in a sign that the ruling party cannot afford unnerving international investors.
Ali Babacan, deputy prime minister in charge of the economy, retained his post in the new Turkish Cabinet, announced Aug. 29 by Ahmet Davutoglu, Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s successor in the prime minister’s seat. This comes as good news for international financial investors, who credit Babacan as a guarantor of Turkey’s economic policies. It is also good news with regard to sustained economic stability at a time when risks are on the rise. Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, too, retained his post.
Yet, if one had to come up with a headline to reflect the political meaning of Babacan keeping his post, “The Erdogan-Davutoglu duo can’t afford forfeiting Babacan” would have been a good one, followed by, “In a sign that the government cannot afford losing international investor confidence at a time of economic volatility, Babacan retains his post in the Davutoglu Cabinet, even though he often attracted former Prime Minister Erdogan’s ire, was vilified for resisting political interventions in the economy and pressures on the central bank for politically motivated rate cuts and allegedly came to the brink of quitting the government.”
