Turkey's economy resistant to shocks: ministers

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

Turkey's economy has overcome many crises over the past ten years, the country's Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said on Monday.

Simsek's remarks came after the U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate climbed to over 3.70 and there was a fall of around 3.5 percent in Borsa Istanbul's BIST 100 index, following a visa row between the U.S. and Turkey.

"Our economy has also proven to be resistant to the shocks," Simsek tweeted, adding that the government would maintain macroeconomic stability.

On Sunday, the Turkish embassy in the U.S. suspended processing of non-immigrant visa applications, in retaliation to the U.S. embassy in Ankara which said it had suspended all similar operations in Turkey.

Last week, Turkish national Metin Topuz, confirmed by the U.S.’ Istanbul Consulate as a local employee, was remanded in custody on terror charges by an Istanbul court.

Meanwhile, Turkey's Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci also said those who trust in Turkey would win.

"Turkey's economy has proven many times that its robustness and potency would not be affected by speculative operations," Zeybekci tweeted.

Turkish stocks showed a steep fall early on Monday, as the benchmark stock index started the week with a 3.66 percent drop to open at 100,324.38.

Since the beginning of this year, the BIST 100 has risen nearly 34 percent and saw its highest peak ever at 110,530.75 points on Aug. 28. The index saw a 5.7 percent fall last month.

The dollar/lira rate stood at 3.7132 as of 4 p.m. local time (1300GMT) on Monday; the nine-month average exchange rate was 3.60.

One dollar was trading for 3.02 Turkish liras on average last year while the U.S. dollar/Turkish lira rate hit an historic high of 3.94 in mid-January.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, Turkey's economy grew beyond expectations in the first quarter (5.2 percent) and second quarter (5.1 percent) of this year.

The Turkish economy expanded 3.2 percent last year, while growth in 2015 was 6.1 percent and in 2014 was 5.2 percent.