S&P’s rating for Turkey is unfair, RBS exec says

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

The head of emerging markets research at the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (RBS) Emerging Markets Research said yesterday that international rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) recent outlook revision for Turkey was incorrect.

Timothy Ash was the first international economist to support Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s reaction to S&P’s decision to revise Turkey’s outlook to stable from positive. Ash said Erdoğan was right, and S&P’s rating was wrong, noting that Turkey has a robust economy.

S&P on May 1 downgraded its outlook for Turkey’s long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings to stable from positive, due to “less-buoyant external demand and worsening terms of trade [which] could inhibit Turkey’s economic rebalancing.”

Turkey definitely deserved a better rating, Ash said. Ash added that Turkey is making up for its weaknesses and trying to solve its main problems, which the international rating agency should take into consideration.