Turkey under attack from the USA?

The US sub-prime crisis still poses a threat to the Turkish property market, claims HSBC…

HSBC Turkey CEO Piraye Antika recently stated that it was ‘still too early for Turkish markets to breathe a sigh of relief with the assumption that the global turmoil stemming from the sub-prime mortgages in the US real estate market no longer poses a threat’.

Ms Antika noted: "The turbulence is not over, and any assessment before the waves of the crisis hit our shores will be very far from truth. Fortunately no major disaster occurred amidst the extremely strained political and economic environment this year, which was shaped by the presidential elections, the military's e-memorandum on the night of April 27, the general elections and the debates over a cross-border operation into northern Iraq.

Ms Antika continued: “Even the sub-prime mortgage crisis has not had a significant impact on domestic markets. This is because the economy and politics were successfully separated from each other."

Ms Antika also noted that another reason rendering the economy so sound is high real interest rates, which ensure the inflow of large amounts of foreign capital. "Yes, I admit that the cost of interest payments is still very high, but at the same time, this is the cost of stability".