Turkish Finance Minister Plans U.S. Visit

By Nevzat Devranoglu

GIRESUN, Turkey (Reuters) – Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek announced that he will meet with rating agencies, investors, and companies planning to shift supply to Turkey during his visit to the United States this week.

“I will be in America this week for the IMF, World Bank, and G20 meetings. We will meet with rating agencies in New York at the beginning of the week and then with direct investors based in America,” Simsek told reporters during a weekend visit to Turkey’s Black Sea province of Giresun.

“We will meet with real sector representatives, especially U.S. companies that plan to shift their supply to Turkey, especially following recent developments,” he said, referencing the tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Last Friday, Turkey’s overnight interest rate rose to the new upper band of the rate corridor, around 49%, a day after the central bank’s surprise policy tightening.

These moves followed weeks of market turmoil triggered by the March arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival, and then the imposition of tariffs by Trump.

Simsek indicated that he would attend around 15 bilateral meetings or meetings organized by investment banks each day in the United States, conveying that Turkey’s economic programme will remain unchanged.

“In all these meetings, we will say that there is no change in the programme, that there is a very strong political will behind the programme,” Simsek stated.