Investors' confidence in Turkey rises: Finance Min.

By Busra Nur Ozcan

Bursa, TURKEY

The confidence of international investors in Turkey has increased substantially, Turkish Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said Thursday.

The demand for Turkey's last two foreign currency bonds was over three times the actual issue size, he said at an event organized by the Bursa Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The minister said for the $2-billion bond issuance the demand was $6.5 billion and for the €1.5-billion ($1.7 billion) issuance the demand was €4.7 billion ($5.4 billion).

"In the coming five years, Turkey will continue to make structural reforms and take important steps to become one of the world's strongest economy," he added.

Speaking about speculative attacks on the Turkish economy, he said the nation came out of them in a short time.

Earlier this month, the U.S. lifted sanctions on two Turkish Cabinet ministers, which were placed in September for not releasing American pastor Andrew Brunson, who was being tried in Turkey over terror charges. He was released last month.

The U.S. also raised tariffs on Turkish aluminum and steel.

The tariffs and sanctions affected the U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate, which recovered to 5.4 on Thursday.

Turkey is in a better position than September in terms of macroeconomic data such as credit default swap (CDS) rates or interest rates, Albayrak said.

"We always look out for the budget discipline to reduce inflation stress and save our people."

He added that Turkey also took steps for structural reforms, besides short-term measures, to fight against inflation.

Albayrak said that Turkey's year-end current account deficit, which was forecast as $45 billion in August, was expected to stay under the $40-billion mark.

* Gokhan Ergocun contributed to this story from Istanbul.