Fitch warned on Tuesday that Turkey’s sovereign credit profile could come under pressure if central bank independence is curtailed after a snap election in June that is expected to consolidate power in the hands of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Comments from the Turkish president raise the possibility that discretionary policy-making and policy predictability will come under pressure after June’s elections,” the rating agency said on Tuesday.
Erdogan pointed out earlier that he intends to lay hands over the monetary policy, after the elections, despite the supposed independence of the central bank.
“Monetary policy in Turkey has long been subject to political constraints, but an explicit threat to curb the central bank’s independence increases risks to the policy-making environment and to policy effectiveness, not only from political interference but from the greater pressure on the [Turkish central bank] to prove its independence,” Fitch said.
Meanwhile, the Turkish lira has slid to a fresh historic low of 4.62 against the dollar.
In a related matter, Dubai’s biggest lender Emirates NBD has agreed to buy Turkey’s Denizbank from Russia’s state-owned Sberbank (SBER.MM) for $3.25 billion to help establish itself as a leading bank in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.
Denizbank has assets of 169.4 billion lira ($37.6 billion) and operates 751 branches, including 43 outside Turkey.
Denizbank boasts 11.8 million clients, and the total amount of granted loans by March 31 reached around TRY119 billion (USD26.4 billion), while deposits totaled TRY115.7 billion (USD25.7 billion).
This deal is the biggest acquisition operation by Emirates NBD.
