Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised a team with "international credibility” will manage the nation’s finances. Given his influence over everything from interest rates to infrastructure, how credible this pledge is remains unclear even as market pressure builds.
A new cabinet is expected to be named at the end of the week after Turkey’s longest-serving leader extended his rule by another five years. The most significant potential appointment would be Mehmet Simsek, a former finance minister who advisers to Erdogan have been courting to oversee economic policy, people close to the matter said.
Investors have bemoaned Erdogan’s maverick approach, underpinned by his belief that the only way to tackle inflation is to cut borrowing costs and grow the economy. The key question for the outside world is whether more Erdogan means more of the same, or whether Turkey will shift toward policies that are more attuned with global economics and his NATO allies.