Turkey: The gains and pains of investment grade

Turkey’s ambition for an investment-grade rating might be realized this year. Strong fundamentals and political stability almost guarantee it. But if it gets a triple-B rating, two problems remain. What can foreign investors buy, and will making the grade undermine further reform? Nick Lord reports.

HAD YOU ATTENDED any Turkish investor presentation, government meeting or corporate conference in the past six months you would have heard a similar refrain: Turkey deserves an investment-grade rating. It is a coda slapped onto the end of every speech. “The markets are right and the agencies are wrong,” everyone says. “Turkey is an investment-grade country.”

It is the closest thing Turkey has to an economic national anthem. Everyone knows the words and the music is familiar to all.

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