Turkey Probes False Social Media Posts That Finance Chief Quit
(Bloomberg) -- Turkey is investigating social media posts that falsely claimed Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek had quit, triggering a sharp drop in the Istanbul Stock Exchange, the Capital Markets Board, or SPK, announced on Saturday.
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The country’s market watchdog said probes were underway against accounts that “misled stock exchange investors and caused them to suffer losses.”
Turkey’s main stock index, the BIST-100, fell 2.6% on Friday to close at 9,668.10, its biggest one-day decline since tumbling 5.5% on Aug. 5.
“I did not resign. The scenarios being circulated are not true,” Simsek said on X late Friday in response to posts claiming that he’d resigned in response to criticism over Turkey’s economic policy direction.
The posts, made on sites including YouTube and X, alleged that Simsek had resigned in response to criticism over high rates and tighter economic policy. That in turn sparked concerns over the future of the government’s plans to fight one of the world’s highest inflation rates.
Turkey’s economic management works with “a team spirit and is aware of the great and difficult responsibility we have taken,” Simsek said, adding that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remains a strong supporter.
“Our economic stability and reform program is working successfully, and we have started to achieve the results we targeted,” Simsek said. “We always feel the strong support of esteemed president in this challenging process.”
Simsek took over the management of Turkey’s economy in mid-2023 as part of a team of technocrats who steered the nation away from unconventional policies that favored economic growth over price stability.
However, many consumers have started to complain that price increases outpaced their incomes as higher borrowing costs make it more difficult for families and companies to manage debt.
Erdogan is known for his hostility to high borrowing costs since he favors cheap loans to spur economic growth, even as investors warn against a premature rate cut while inflation remains high.
--With assistance from Ugur Yilmaz and Beril Akman.
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