ANKARA: Turkey is open to all forms of investments and support, but it has not asked any country for money, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday, as the country grapples with a currency crisis that has sent the lira plunging in recent weeks.
Erdogan told members of his ruling AK Party he had ordered his ministers not to receive any financial advice or consulting from U.S. firm McKinsey, saying the government would rely on domestic capabilities instead.
Turkey’s lira weakened more than one percent on Tuesday as investors turned their attention to Wednesday’s September inflation data and with negative sentiment in emerging markets exerting pressure on the currency.
The lira has lost some 37 percent of its value against the dollar this year on concerns over the central bank’s ability to rein in double-digit inflation and with President Tayyip Erdogan calling for lower interest rates to boost borrowing.
The lira weakened to 6.0404 against the dollar by 0853 GMT from Monday’s close of 5.9410. It firmed as far as 5.91 on Monday, its strongest in more than a month and a half.
Meanwhile, Erdogan showed a more conciliatory tone on a hugely sensitive visit to Germany on Oct 1 but both sides still have daunting task ahead to rebuild relations and trust battered by a succession of disputes.
Erdogan’s full state visit came just one-and-a-half-months after Turkey endured a currency crisis which saw the lira plunge some 40 percent in a spat with the United States that highlighted the importance of Ankara’s economic ties to Europe.
Turkey’s relations with Germany — and other key EU states — had hit historic lows in the aftermath of the 2016 failed coup as Berlin took issue with the scope of the remorseless crackdown that also caught up German nationals.
Interpretations of the controversial visit varied wildly in Turkey and Germany, with Erdogan boasting it was a hugely successful but the conservative German press complaining the red carpet treatment brought nothing but hassle and expense.
Erdogan on Saturday in Cologne also inaugurated a new mosque — seen as a symbol of the integration of three million people of Turkish origin in Germany — although the resonance was undermined by the absence of key German politicians.
“At a critical period, we made an extremely productive, extremely successful visit,” Erdogan said.
