Turkey's Finance Ministry, Moody's have opposite views on economy's direction
Moody's sees the Turkish economy as likely in recession, while Erdogan's son-in-law says positive results are on their way.
ANKARA, Turkey — Finance Minister Berat Albayrak gave an upbeat picture today of his efforts to defeat inflation, which hit 25% this week — its highest level in 15 years. But his rosy forecast was challenged by Moody’s rating agency, which said Turkey was on the cusp of recession.
“We have started to annihilate the effects of inflation on our economy. We will continue to obtain stronger results with stronger measures,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law told business executives in the northwestern city of Bursa.
Bayrak said companies had responded to his call for 10% discounts on goods impacting inflation, and “in November and December we will get more positive results as price rises will decline.”
Referring to Turkey’s long-running battle with balance of payments, he said, “There will be a decline in the current account deficit, and there might be a surprise at the end of the year.”
