​Good Tidings, Citizen

TURKEY - In Brief 10 Jan 2019 by Atilla Yesilada

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Dear All, I’ll be out of town for the weekend to launch my third book, thus skipping my weekly contribution to the knowledge pool of the world. I thought it would be appropriate to comment on municipal elections, the winning of which moved to the center of AKP policymaking and new threats by Foreign Affairs Minister (FAM) Mr. Cavusoglu that if US doesn’t pull out of Syria, Turkey will launch an offensive. Local elections:Watch the campaign, not the results Regarding end-March local elections, polls are unusually scarce for this time of the campaign cycle, which some opposition columnists attribute of AKP’s flagging support. I can’t vouch for that, but economic stimulus or pork barreling packages being rolled out each day, now labeled “good tidings packages” by economy czar Mr. Albayrak suggest that the party is not confident of regaining Istanbul and Ankara. I’m told by some of my friends in the brokerage community that international investors don’t care about election results, which they shouldn’t, because it won’t lead to early elections even if the opposition sweeps major cities. However my audience is invited to focus on the campaign process, which could wreck the economy in AKP’s misguided effort to reflate the economy. The latest good tidings entail The state paying electricity bills of the poor up to TL 80/month.Ziraat Bank offering below-market interest rates for those wishing to restructure their credit card debt. A new Small and Medium Administration loan campaign involving 13 banks and worthTL22 bn. I’m almost certain these measures will have minimal effect on reflating the economy, or improving the sentiment of the voters, which can be called “brooding”. Ac...