Turkey is undergoing a third wave of economic attacks by foreign banks and media outlets following the Supreme Election Council’s (YSK) decision on Monday to rerun the March 31 mayoral elections in Istanbul.
The first attack came in August and a second occurred days before the March 31 election, aiming to shake investor’s confidence and send the Turkish lira plunging.
This third attack has been undertaken as the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) announced measures to stabilize the devaluation of the lira, triggering its recovery from a low of 6.25 to 6.01 against the U.S. dollar, as of Friday at 5 p.m. GMT.
Those seeking to disrupt Turkey’s economy for political gains have resumed a position similar to the one taken in the last week of March, leading up to local elections. The banks JP Morgan and Citibank, which were at the center of previous attacks, have taken a negative stance against the lira. Media outlets including Bloomberg, Reuters and Financial Times have taken every opportunity to manipulate the portrayal of Turkey’s economic situation in an attempt to harm it.
Following the CBRT’s decision Thursday to suspended one-week repo auctions for an undisclosed period of time, a move which restored some of the Turkish lira’s losses, these institutions made efforts to discredit the work of the CBRT and to send the lira falling once more.
The institutions have attempted to spook Turkish citizens into exchanging their liras for dollars, further weakening the lira, but, thanks the efforts of the CBRT which have reversed the lira’s losses, these smear campaigns have had minimal effect.
Turkey entered an era of long-awaited reforms following the March 31 elections. The new reform package covers a wide area from banking to insurance, inflation, agriculture and the judicial sphere. The financial reforms will delve into all areas of the financial sector and contribute to the reinforcement of the capital structure of both private and public lenders.
In addition to the financial sector, inflation is the second area reform efforts will concentrate on. In order to tackle food inflation, a new agricultural policy will be announced in May. With master plans for logistics, exports and tourism, the country aims to increase revenues and support its development.
BY DAILY SABAH NEWS
