Page 16 - bne_newspaper_August_02_2019

Eurasia
August 2, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 16
Turkey’s banks must restructure around $36bn of troubled loans alone says finance minister
bne IntelliNews
With half of Turkish lira (TRY) 400bn ($72bn) of troubled loans in Turkey already reorganised, the government won’t cover any losses incurred from bad loans, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak was reported by Bloomberg as telling reporters in Ankara on July 30. The economy would be better off once the balance has been dealt with by the banks themselves, he added.
“The level of success depends on them,”
the minister was cited as saying. “Some say ‘government should cover losses”– that won’t happen. The banking sector should not take the easy way.”
The government is presently devising legislation to facilitate restructuring negotiations between lenders and borrowers.
The economy is struggling to gain momentum after a recession and there is anxiety that this year could bring a double-dip recession. Rating agencies have expressed worries that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s administration will not tolerate the low growth necessary to achieve economic rebalancing. It is seeking to push lending even while non-performing loans ratios are rising and Turkish banks’ profitability falls.
Turkey’s construction industry, meanwhile, has
a mighty headache. It is burdened by a large number of unsold homes with consumption
in the doldrums. Albayrak, however, said it
isn’t posing a “systemic” risk to banks. The government, he reportedly added, has no plans to rescue businesses in the building or real estate industries, but was “closely monitoring them”.
Uzbekistan launches new Agency for Attracting Foreign Investment bne IntelliNews
The Uzbek government has approved the creation of an Agency for Attracting Foreign Investment under the Ministry of Investments and Foreign Trade, UzDaily news agency reported on July 29.
As the agency’s name suggests, it will focus on attracting foreign investors into the country by “creating favourable conditions for foreign inves- tors”. The agency appears to be similar in function
to neighbouring Kazakhstan’s Kazakh Invest.
The new agency will be headed by a director, who will be appointed and dismissed by the Uzbek government based on suggestions by Uzbekistan’s Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade.
The effectiveness of the agency’s activities will be subject to regular evaluation, the report said.