Nureddin Nebati is due to meet foreign investors and executives in London on his first international trip since taking the helm of Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Ministry.
Nebati will discuss the latest developments with investors and outline Turkey’s new economic path based on low interest rates, according to reports in the Turkish media.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been endorsing a model based on lower borrowing costs, which he says will boost production, employment and exports, and also eventually help Turkey to solve the chronic current account deficit problem and contribute to stabilizing the Turkish lira.
To support the drive, Turkey’s central bank has slashed its interest rates by 500 basis points since September to 14%, before pausing the easing cycle last month.
The lira had weakened 44% last year and hit a record low of 18.4 against the United States dollar in late December but rebounded after Erdoğan’s announcement of a scheme to boost lira deposits by protecting them against depreciation.
The scheme aims to encourage foreign currency holders to convert their funds to lira and keep their savings in Turkish money, compensating depositors for any losses due to lira depreciation.
The initiative had helped the lira rally sharply to just over 10 and then settle at current levels just under 14 to the dollar. The currency has held steady in 2022 and was flat at 13.5505 at 8:30 a.m. GMT on Monday.
The facility has attracted more than TL 290 billion ($21 billion) so far, Mehmet Ali Akben, the head of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), said last Thursday, up from some TL 200 billion in late January.
“Turkey is attracting much interest, especially after we unveiled the ‘Turkey Economy Model’ and the currency stabilized in a short period of two months,” Nebati told Japan’s Nikkei last week.
Nebati was appointed in December after his predecessor Lütfi Elvan stepped down.
He will hold two separate meetings in London, set to be organized by London-based Dome Group, according to private broadcaster Bloomberg HT.
“We will tell our determination that there is no turning back from this policy, and we have no rate hike in our agenda,” Nebati said ahead of the investor meetings.
“We will make sure they will hear this from the highest relevant authority. We will explain what kind of an economy will be welcoming them here in a transparent fashion.”
After London, Nebati said he will accompany Erdoğan to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and from there will go to Jakarta for a G-20 meeting.
“I will also visit Bahrain and London one more time,” he added. “In spring, I want to visit Japan, China and Singapore to wrap up a Europe, (Persian) Gulf, Far East tour.”
