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Erdogan proposes Turkish ratings agency
Erdogan proposes Turkish ratings agency - FT.com
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkeys prime minister, has proposed setting up a Turkish ratings agency after taking umbrage at an assessment of the countrys debt by one of the three main international bodies.
The announcement follows Mr Erdogans enthusiasm for a Turkish car made for the countrys domestic market and tablet computer designed for the countrys 15m schoolchildren.
The prime minister is angry at Standard & Poors, which announced this month it was revising Ankaras long-term sovereign rating from positive to stable a way of saying it does not expect to award the country investment grade status in the next 12 months.
Mr Erdogan, who in almost a decade in office has presided over the nations economic transformation, has complained that the decision does not reflect Turkeys rapid rate of growth 8.5 per cent last year. But the ratings agency believes the country could be vulnerable to outside events because of its large current account deficit and sizeable private sector debt.
Changing Turkeys rating from positive to stable is completely ideological, Mr Erdogan told journalists in Pakistan, which he has been visiting this week. Turkey might set up its own credit rating institution that would be of great benefit.
The Turkish prime minister suggested that both Turkish and international groups could be clients of such a ratings agency. He has already declared that Ankara no longer recognises S&P as a ratings agency, ridiculing it for upgrading Greece at the same time as it revised Turkeys outlook.
S&Ps statement didnt have any effect on our markets but our statements impaired S&Ps credit in the world, he said this week in Pakistan.
Kadri Gursel, a columnist for Turkeys Milliyet newspaper, said Mr Erdogans remarks were influenced both by the countrys sense of rising power and by its dependence on foreign financing of the current account deficit, which last year reached 10 per cent of gross domestic product.
This is a statement totally destined for local consumption, Mr Gursel said. This emanates from the psychology of exaggerated self-esteem and exaggerated self-confidence in the region, with all the problems in the eurozone and elsewhere.
In a speech last month, Ahmet Davutoglu, Mr Erdogans foreign minister, declared that Turkey would be the owner, pioneer and the servant of this new Middle East although both he and the prime minister have since played down those comments.
Industrial initiatives born from Turkeys growing self-confidence are also experiencing mixed results.
The project to distribute specially designed tablet computers to Turkish schools is gaining speed. But the prime ministers plans for production of a Turkish car have yet to reach fruition, despite his lobbying of prominent businessmen.
Erdogan proposes Turkish ratings agency - FT.com
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkeys prime minister, has proposed setting up a Turkish ratings agency after taking umbrage at an assessment of the countrys debt by one of the three main international bodies.
The announcement follows Mr Erdogans enthusiasm for a Turkish car made for the countrys domestic market and tablet computer designed for the countrys 15m schoolchildren.
The prime minister is angry at Standard & Poors, which announced this month it was revising Ankaras long-term sovereign rating from positive to stable a way of saying it does not expect to award the country investment grade status in the next 12 months.
Mr Erdogan, who in almost a decade in office has presided over the nations economic transformation, has complained that the decision does not reflect Turkeys rapid rate of growth 8.5 per cent last year. But the ratings agency believes the country could be vulnerable to outside events because of its large current account deficit and sizeable private sector debt.
Changing Turkeys rating from positive to stable is completely ideological, Mr Erdogan told journalists in Pakistan, which he has been visiting this week. Turkey might set up its own credit rating institution that would be of great benefit.
The Turkish prime minister suggested that both Turkish and international groups could be clients of such a ratings agency. He has already declared that Ankara no longer recognises S&P as a ratings agency, ridiculing it for upgrading Greece at the same time as it revised Turkeys outlook.
S&Ps statement didnt have any effect on our markets but our statements impaired S&Ps credit in the world, he said this week in Pakistan.
Kadri Gursel, a columnist for Turkeys Milliyet newspaper, said Mr Erdogans remarks were influenced both by the countrys sense of rising power and by its dependence on foreign financing of the current account deficit, which last year reached 10 per cent of gross domestic product.
This is a statement totally destined for local consumption, Mr Gursel said. This emanates from the psychology of exaggerated self-esteem and exaggerated self-confidence in the region, with all the problems in the eurozone and elsewhere.
In a speech last month, Ahmet Davutoglu, Mr Erdogans foreign minister, declared that Turkey would be the owner, pioneer and the servant of this new Middle East although both he and the prime minister have since played down those comments.
Industrial initiatives born from Turkeys growing self-confidence are also experiencing mixed results.
The project to distribute specially designed tablet computers to Turkish schools is gaining speed. But the prime ministers plans for production of a Turkish car have yet to reach fruition, despite his lobbying of prominent businessmen.
