ANKARA
Halkbank's legal entity is attacked over the claims against its director general, Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said on Tuesday, stressing that the allegations have no links with the bank itself.
Speaking on a TV programme, Babacan, Turkey's deputy PM responsible for economy, made remarks on state-run Halkbank, whose director was detained as part of the anti-graft operation which rattled the country on December 17.
Babacan said Halkbank was the only bank who could do business with Iran, noting that a bank has to comply with all international regulations to be able to do business with the sanctioned country.
"A bank has to gain the confidence of both Iran and the US [to do business with Iran]. Halkbank was a bank which followed all these necessities. It is natural that Halkbank was an envied institution," Babacan said.
Regarding that the bank's name was mentioned frequently in the anti-graft operation which started on December 17, Babacan said "The bank's legal entity is attacked over the claims against its director general, although there is no allegation against the bank itself."
- Cost of the December 17 operation to the Turkish economy
Babacan also commented on the cost of the December 17 operation to the Turkish economy.
Between December 10 and 17, the value of publicly traded companies fell around 50 billion dollars, said Babacan, adding that Halkbank alone lost more than two and a half million dollars.
"Everybody got negatively affected. Concerning the asset values, the crisis had a significant cost," said Babacan.
Babacan said the net exit foreign investors made within two weeks amounted to 238 million dollars. "Concerning foreign exchange, a total of 764 million dollars left the country."
- The 2014 projections for Turkish economy
"We predict the current account deficit to be 6.5 percent in 2014", said Babacan, stressing that there is no possibilty that the Turkish economy will not be able to cope with it.
Babacan said Turkey looked at 2014 confidently, but the global factors could be determinant in the eventual developments.
The minister also said Turkey's growth was estimated to be slightly over 3.6 percent at the end of this year.
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