Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek is going to Europe to talk to international investors about more foreign investments in Turkey. He will attend a meeting in London next week hosted by major banks Citigroup and Bank of America and then talk to investors in Paris later in the month.
Simsek will also attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Marrakech, Morocco, next month. He may visit Gulf countries later in the month. During a visit to the United Arab Emirates in July, investments of more than $50 billion were pledged in Turkey. Last week, Simsek was also in New York to talk to bankers.
Simsek is a former strategist for investment bank Merrill Lynch and was appointed finance minister by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in May. With the new central bank boss, Hafize Gaye Erkan, the minister is busy regaining the confidence of foreign investors in Turkey. Turkey is now pursuing a more conventional policy to get high inflation under control.
Therefore, credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has also become more optimistic about the Turkish economy. S&P has increased the outlook for Turkey’s credit rating from negative to stable, meaning there will be no downgrade of the rating for the time being.