Turkish economy minister slams Moody’s after rating update skip

ANKARA

Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci, who had expected a negative credit rating revision from Moody’s, slammed the agency for not releasing an update.

Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci has slammed Moody’s through social media, after the agency skipped announcing an anticipated credit rating for Turkey.

Moody’s did not release the credit rating update, which was widely expected to be published Aug. 8, amid growing concerns of a downgrade for the country.

Zeybekci took to Twitter to blast the agency for “biased rate decisions” and causing speculation concerning the Turkish economy.  “We won’t let anyone to speculate on Turkey. The credit rating that was to be announced on the last work day ahead of the [presidential] elections was meaningful for us,” the minister said on Aug. 9.

Zeybekci had said last week that he expected the ratings agency to give a negative outlook for Turkey, triggering a significant sell off in the stock market and depreciation in the Turkish Lira.

“We know where we stand and we said what we said; we stood behind our words before and we always will,” he said.

“Interest rate missioners, who lump the inflation of the past and the interest rate of the future together, cannot give us a lecture on economy. We carry our nation’s interest on my back and we don’t have any business with speculation barkers; economy gunmen won’t be able to find a way anymore,” he further stated.

Some analysts said the lack of reporting could indicate the institute did not want to shake the markets with a negative report because they were already strained with geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and Iraq.

Moody’s later released a statement on its website saying there were three possible dates for it to publish its credit ratings as an indication of potential market moves.

The agency said it had also not published its ratings for Sweden and Azerbaijan.