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TURKISH PM SLAMS S&P FOR DOWNGRADING HIS COUNTRY
PanARMENIAN.Net
May 3, 2012 - 16:53 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced
Standard and Poor's rating agency on Thursday, May 3, saying its
downgrading of Turkey's outlook was clouded by an "ideological
approach."
Erdogan told a televised meeting in Istanbul: "This is entirely
an ideological approach. You cannot fool anybody, you cannot fool
Tayyip Erdogan."
He condemned the outlook revision as "very odd" and hit back at what
he implied was discrimination by S&P, which had improved the outlook
of crisis-hit neighboring Greece, while lowering the perspective
for Turkey.
The Turkish PM also threatened not to recognize the Standard and
Poor's as "a credible ratings agency."
On Tuesday, Standard and Poor's revised the outlook on Turkey's
long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings to
stable, from positive.
On Wednesday, the agency lifted Greece out of selective default status
in view of a bond swap which cancelled a big slice of Greek debt.
Explaining its view of Turkey, the agency said: "Less-buoyant external
demand and worsening terms of trade (the price of exports compared to
imports) have, in our view, made economic re-balancing more difficult,
and have increased the risks to Turkey's creditworthiness given its
high external debt and the state budget's reliance on indirect tax
revenues."
The agency said: "We have revised the outlook on Turkey's long-term
sovereign credit ratings to stable from positive, reflecting our view
that the ratings are likely to remain at the current level during
the next 12 months."
Finance Minister Mehmet Å~^imÅ~_ek joined the government's criticism
and blasted the report as full of "very serious" mistakes, Hurriyet
Daily News reported.
PanARMENIAN.Net
May 3, 2012 - 16:53 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced
Standard and Poor's rating agency on Thursday, May 3, saying its
downgrading of Turkey's outlook was clouded by an "ideological
approach."
Erdogan told a televised meeting in Istanbul: "This is entirely
an ideological approach. You cannot fool anybody, you cannot fool
Tayyip Erdogan."
He condemned the outlook revision as "very odd" and hit back at what
he implied was discrimination by S&P, which had improved the outlook
of crisis-hit neighboring Greece, while lowering the perspective
for Turkey.
The Turkish PM also threatened not to recognize the Standard and
Poor's as "a credible ratings agency."
On Tuesday, Standard and Poor's revised the outlook on Turkey's
long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings to
stable, from positive.
On Wednesday, the agency lifted Greece out of selective default status
in view of a bond swap which cancelled a big slice of Greek debt.
Explaining its view of Turkey, the agency said: "Less-buoyant external
demand and worsening terms of trade (the price of exports compared to
imports) have, in our view, made economic re-balancing more difficult,
and have increased the risks to Turkey's creditworthiness given its
high external debt and the state budget's reliance on indirect tax
revenues."
The agency said: "We have revised the outlook on Turkey's long-term
sovereign credit ratings to stable from positive, reflecting our view
that the ratings are likely to remain at the current level during
the next 12 months."
Finance Minister Mehmet Å~^imÅ~_ek joined the government's criticism
and blasted the report as full of "very serious" mistakes, Hurriyet
Daily News reported.