If regional Turkish media is to be believed, no less than the country’s Minister of Finance (Finmin), Berat Albayrak, has proposed looking into the wildcat world of initial coin offerings (ICOs) as a way to boost the economy. English-speaking press reports so far haven’t mentioned Turkey’s supposed turn toward state-backed crypto products, but they have highlighted forecasts the country’s sagging, devalued lira is set to make a comeback.
Century old Turkey state media outlet, Anadolu Agency, detailed the Treasury and Finance Minister’s New Economic Program, published this week. Finmin Berat Albayrak suggested the nation’s economy will grow 3.8 percent by year’s end.
“Public Finance Transformation and Change Office has been established under the new economic program,” Mr. Albayrak noted. “We will use all necessary policies and measures to overcome economic challenges. We expect a stabilization process for next year and 2020, so the new economic program aims for 2.3-percent economic growth in 2019.”
These are wildly different predictions and prognostications from not too long ago. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his US counterpart, Mr. Trump, engaged in a diplomatic battle over the fate of an American religious leader. In the tussle, Turkey’s lira bottomed double digits, devaluing at frightening rates, causing rampant inflation.
Minister Albayrak continued, “Our major intention is to support a stabilization process with discipline in public finance. You will see the most concrete example of this in investment projects that we will support.” Anadolu Agency further explained how according “to the new economic Medium Term Program (MTP), Turkey is targeting a 1.9-percent budget deficit to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio this year, and 1.7 percent in 2021.”