Prices that double every year, the Turkish lira at record lows, the Central Bank’s foreign exchange reserves in negative for the first time in 21 years, a tangle of regulations and rules applied to foreign exchange markets to avoid a bank freeze, international credibility on the rocks, and policies and institutions — both economic and monetary —over which one man, the re-elected Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has the last word.
Given the situation in Turkey, there are few takers for the position of Minister of Finance and Treasury. “It is not a good position, it is one of the worst jobs that you can get,” said Bilge Yilmaz, professor of Economics at the Wharton Institute in Pennsylvania, a few weeks ago. Despite this, he wanted the role if the opposition won. Mehmet Simsek — a man trusted by the markets who led several economic ministries between 2007 and 2018 — declined Erdogan’s offer to return to the post.
