How Putin saved Erdogan
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s support for his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, comes at a critical moment for him, as Ankara needs to stabilize the economy less than a year before general elections.
This is what Onur Ant, wrote on Bloomberg, where he noted that the meeting between Presidents Putin and Erdogan, which lasted for four hours in Sochi last week, resulted in understandings allowing Türkiye to forgo paying in dollars for some Russian gas imports.
According to the writer, this partial transition of Türkiye into paying for Russian gas, will lead to the stability of the Turkish lira, and prevent new waves of price increases.
It comes shortly after Türkiye’s gold and foreign exchange reserves have actually increased due to the transfer of funds from Russia’s state nuclear energy company, Rosatom, to its Turkish subsidiary, Akkuyu Neuklear, to build a Turkish nuclear power plant on the Mediterranean coast.
Moreover, the newspaper states that Ankara is refraining from joining Western sanctions against Moscow, as Erdogan wants to deepen economic ties with Russia, without provoking a complete break with traditional NATO allies.
The Turkish lira collapsed in November of last year by 18%, which is the maximum decline in the past twenty years, and on December 20 a record high of 18.4 lira was recorded for the dollar, then the annual inflation accelerated against the background of fluctuations in the national currency, reaching 36%.
This has raised the cost of everything in Türkiye, from food to energy and services, and pushed consumer inflation to 80%, one of the highest rates in the world.
