Turkey: Markets 'positive' on proposed early elections

WASHINGTON

Markets have reacted "positively" to a proposal to hold elections earlier than scheduled in Turkey, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said Friday.

"The reaction of the markets to the early elections was very positive. Why? Because, normally, the local elections would be held in March 2019 and presidential and parliamentary elections in November 2019.

"That would lead people to concern about uncertainty over the next one and a half years," Simsek told American businessmen and representatives of non-governmental organizations in the capital Washington.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday announced a plan to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24, more than one year earlier they had initially been scheduled, in November 2019.

Simsek said early polls would improve expectations regarding Turkey's economy.

"...A new five-year period is set to open where we can focus on the second and third generations of economic reforms, which we will start after the elections," Simsek said.

Reporting by Gulbin Yildirim:Writing by Diyar Guldogan