Meet Turkey’s New Sovereign Wealth Fund Chairman, Who Has “Now Taken Public Companies Prisoners”

 

What does a man who already controls pretty much everything in his country — from politics to the judiciary to defense — give to himself? How about direct takeover of his country’s sovereign wealth fund?

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has appointed himself chairman of Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund after recent promises to exert greater influence over the economy. He’s nixed the old guard management and hand-picked their replacements, in a move his political rival, presidential candidate who lost the June election, Muharrem Ince, has aptly described as taking “public companies prisoners”.

And not to be one to break medieval sultanate tradition, he’s further named his son-in-law and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak as deputy chairman.

Turkey Default Risk Spikes to 2008-2009 Crisis Levels; Possible Contagion, Warns Russell Napier

Source: Bloomberg, Financial Sense® Wealth Management. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

 

All focus is on Turkey right now as their currency goes into freefall and 5-year credit default swaps (insurance against default) have now spiked to levels last seen during the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

Turkey Will Be Ground Zero in the Next Global Debt Crisis

(Shutterstock)

 

Turkey is a beautiful country with a rich history including Greek, Roman and Muslim influences that make it one of the most fascinating places on Earth. It is literally a bridge between East and West: The mile-long Bosporus Bridge just north of Istanbul connects Europe and Asia across the Bosporus Strait.

Turkey has been a magnet for direct foreign investment from abroad and dollar-denominated loans by international banks to local enterprises. This investment enthusiasm is understandable given Turkey’s well-educated population of 83 million and its rank as the 17th-largest economy in the world, with a GDP of just under $1 trillion.

Iran’s central bank stops US dollar transactions, adopts RMB

Iran’s central bank has announced that it will stop mutual settlements in the US dollar with other countries, with the Chinese yuan or renminbi being named as one of the alternatives.

Iran, Turkey working on plan to use national currencies in trade — report

The agreement will ease the implementation of the preferential trade deal signed between Iran and Turkey last year

TEHRAN, January 25. /TASS/. Tehran and Ankara are “working on a plan” to use their national currencies in bilateral trade exchanges, the Fars news agency reported on Sunday citing Iran’s Ambassador to Turkey Alireza Bigdeli.

Iran Joins Growing List of Countries to Ditch Dollar in Foreign Trade

MOSCOW, January 24 (Sputnik) – Iran no longer uses the US dollar in foreign trade transactions, replacing it with other currencies, the deputy governor at Iranian Central Bank told the Tasnim News Agency Saturday.

Beppe Grillo warns that Italy will be ‘dropped like a hot potato’

Some think he’s still a comedian, however, he has it right in knowing that all roads in the European economic crisis lead to Berlin as it seeks to control Europe’s destiny for the fourth time.

In an interview with the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, Mr Grillo said: “The northern European countries are only holding onto us until their banks have recouped their investments in Italian sovereign bonds. Then they’ll drop us like a hot potato.” The comic-turned-political activist, who campaigned against austerity measures implemented by Prime Minister Mario Monti, compared the technocrat prime minister to “a bankruptcy trustee acting on behalf of the banks” and described his Five Star Movement as: “the French revolution – without the guillotine.”

He repeated his call for a referendum on Italian membership of the euro and insisted he was not anti-European, but a critic of the way the EU has evolved.

“I have only said we need a plan B. We need to ask ‘What has become of Europe? Why do we have no common tax or immigration policy? Why is only Germany getting richer?‘,” he said.