Sonntag, 16.09.2018 / 13:21 Uhr

Erdogan, neuer Zar der türkischen Wirtschaft

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Aus dem Netz

Der türksiche Präsident versucht sich nun auch zum obersten Chef der Wirtschaft zu machen. Ob das die Krise aufhalten wird, stellen Ökonomen sehr in Frage. Derweil wird bekannt, dass Erdogan nun sogar beginnt, die türkischen Goldvorräte zu verkaufen.

Über den Präsidenten als "neuen Zar" der Wirtschaft schreibt Al-Monitor:

Faced with economic turmoil fueled by the meltdown of the Turkish lira, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been issuing threatening messages against price hikes and capital flights. On Sept. 12, he took a critical step that effectively made him the czar of the economy. Erdogan appointed himself the head of the Turkey Wealth Fund (TVF), which holds $200 billion public assets, while naming as deputy his son-in-law Berat Albayrak, who is also the treasury and finance minister. By taking the helm of an institution that controls strategic public companies, Erdogan is assuming an extraordinary authority over the economy.

Created hastily in August 2016 under a state of emergency, the TVF has stakes in public giants such as Ziraat Bank, pipeline operator BOTAS, oil company TPAO, the national postal service, the Istanbul stock exchange, satellite communications company TURKSAT, the national lottery, Turkish Airlines, Halkbank and Turkish Telekom.

Sovereign funds are generally created by countries with budget surpluses to set aside funds for investment to benefit their citizens and economies. Some of the world’s best-known sovereign funds include those of oil-rich nations such as Norway and Gulf countries. Turkey’s case is rather out of spec, for it boasts neither budget surpluses nor energy revenues.

Since the fund was already under government control, why did Erdogan feel the urge to take the reins into his own hands?

The first point the opposition highlights is that the new structure removes Turkey’s key economic and financial assets from the scope of public auditing. The second point is the planned use of the fund for borrowing in a bid to overcome increasing financial strains. Turkey needs to secure $230 billion in external funds to roll over its economy in the next 12 months.