ISTANBUL

As seen on the financial markets, there has been a recovery in investor sentiment in Türkiye in the last few weeks, Türkiye's treasury and finance minister said Tuesday

"Foreign direct investments (FDI) have also picked up in the past 12 months,” Mehmet Simsek told the Qatar Economic Forum. Türkiye is a large economy with a good infrastructure and a huge pool of talented people and significant regional integration, he added.

Simsek said when the dust in global markets from trade policy and inflation settles, investors will look at countries that are resilient to fragmentation in global trade and can benefit from stability and prosperity in the region. Türkiye is among these. It remains the biggest candidate for foreign direct investment inflows, and with its falling inflation, predictability is also rising, he said.

Asked about the volatility in the markets this March, Simsek said the economic program remains on track and is delivering results.

"Inflation is still high, but it has reached the lowest level of the last 40 months. Over the past two weeks, there has been a recovery in foreign exchange reserves. Investors are actually back. CDS (Credit Default Swap) has fallen significantly by well over 90 basis points. So actually, if you look at the past few weeks, there has been a recovery in investor perception. And that's reflected in financial market conditions," he said.

Pointing to Türkiye’s strong monetary and fiscal policy, he said everything “is set for disinflation."

"But no treatment is without any side effects. We are aware of some dislocations in certain sectors. That's why we extended support to some of the labor-intensive export sectors earlier this year. We’re looking at specific remedies while keeping the program on track. The essence of the program is to bring inflation down so we can set the stage for sustainable and high growth. At the same time, we’re looking at short-term fixes to address some side effects," he said.

On US President Donald Trump's announcement that they would lift sanctions on Syria, Simsek said the existence of a stable, peaceful, and prosperous Syria is a great gain for the region and Türkiye.

On the terrorist group PKK's recent decision to disarm and disband, Simsek said over the last 50 years Türkiye has spent some $1.8 trillion on the fight against terrorism, according to research.

Simsek also said recent development will be a huge boon for directing resources to more productive and development-oriented areas.

“These two developments will be huge in terms of geopolitics no longer being a drag but actually being a source of leverage to help Türkiye move up,” he said.