Turkish deputy PM: Protests not sole cause of market loss

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said the recent fall at Turkish markets could only partially be explained by the recent anti-government protests in the country. Babacan put the recent fluctuations in the world markets, including Turkey, down to the US Federal Reserve (Fed) signaling last month that it would make changes in its monetary policy, and cited as an example the ups and downs that occurred at the time in emerging economies such as India and Brazil. "May 22 is the day when Fed President made a speech at US Congress. Only a few hours after that, these developments took place," Babacan said in his address at Euromoney Eurasia Financial Forum. "When you look at the timing, you can see that there are similarities in what happened around the globe and in Turkey," he said. "Of course, the recent protests have had an impact on the damage some of our market indexes received. But when we check the capital flows, as of yesterday we have actually achieved a capital increase of 1.35 billion dollars since May 26." "It's difficult to put it in statistics, but it can be said that the global events account for two thirds of what happened at Turkish markets, and the protests one third," Babacan said. Head of Turkish Stock Exchange Commission, Vahdettin Ertas, said with the recent credit ratings upgrades Turkey would begin to receive new funds as of autumn and these funds would stay longer. Referring to the demonstrations, Ertas said: "Of course we respect environmental concerns, but I believe one might be careful when engaging in activities that raise interest rates in Turkey.”