Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday vowed Ankara would pursue non-dollar transactions in trade with Russia and other countries, accusing the US of behaving like “wild wolves”.
Both Turkey and Russia are reeling from punitive economic measures imposed by Washington, AFP reported.
“America behaves like wild wolves. Don’t believe them,” Erdogan told a business forum during a visit to Kyrgyzstan, in comments translated into Kyrgyz. He said his country was in negotiations with Russia over non-dollar trade.
“Using the dollar only damages us. We will not give up. We will be victorious,” Erdogan told the meeting, attended by Kyrgyz and Turkish businessmen as well as government officials.
Meanwhile, events are likely to unfold quickly for emerging markets this week following the battering some currencies suffered in August.
Turkish inflation accelerated more-than-expected in August, with data released Monday showing that the rate rose to the highest since 2003, Bloomberg reported.
Argentina will unveil a new fiscal plan and Brazil will remain on tenterhooks after the country’s top electoral court banned imprisoned Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva—who was leading in the polls—from running in October’s presidential elections.
“The countries with the most acute macro imbalances are suffering the most pain given the challenging external environment,” said Paul Greer, a London-based money manager at Fidelity International, which oversees about $417 billion of assets.
“Investors remain concerned about the potential for EM fund outflows following the sharp drawdowns on total returns during August, especially in local-currency markets.”
Turkey’s inflation rate rose to 17.9% in August, compared to the 17.6% median of economist forecasts compiled by Bloomberg.
The lira suffered its biggest monthly drop in August since February 2001, when the country abandoned exchange controls and allowed the currency to float amid an economic crisis.
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