Islamic Development Bank 'committed' to Turkish economy

ANKARA

The head of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB) said on Saturday he was pleased with the resilience of a Turkish economy shaken by the July 15 coup attempt.

Ahmad Mohamed Ali said the IsDB had an unwavering commitment to the Turkish people and the government which would not change.

In a statement to Anadolu Agency, he said: "IsDB Group will definitely continue to build on its current cooperation with Turkey in Islamic finance, education, transportation, energy, health, small and medium enterprises and trade finance and export credit-risk insurance sectors."

Regarding the effects of the coup attempt, Ali said measures taken in the wake of this challenging event were successful in mitigating probable extreme volatility.

“The IsDB was happy with the actions taken by the government of Turkey and the Central Bank Of Turkey in dealing with the economic situation in a perfect manner,” Ali said.

Turkey's Central Bank acted by cutting commission daily liquidity options for banks to zero and provided unlimited liquidity to maintain financial markets in the immediate aftermath of the coup bid.

Ali said that although Turkey faces a challenge on current-account management due to energy import dependency, the economy can easily get over this thanks to the confidence of the people in the economy and the Turkish lira.

“I am confident that, although there might be a short-term pullback due to the recent uncertainty in capital flows, the economy will swiftly bounce back,” Ali said.

Ali said the Turkish economy has proven it can grow in a healthy pace, even in challenging times:

“Turkey has demonstrated that, through prudent economic management delivered by a strong and capable team, it can continue to grow at a respectable rate of 3-4 percent. It has a growing consumer class and strong domestic and international investments.”