US envoy warns on pharma debt

ISTANBUL: The US ambassador to Turkey said on Wednesday companies will consider abandoning its market if it fails to fully meet debt payments to American pharmaceutical firms, and he criticised a new Turkish law clamping down on big social media sites.

Addressing a trade conference streamed online, David Satterfield said debts owed by government hospitals to pharmaceutical companies in the United States and elsewhere had risen to around $2.3 billion from some $230 million (7.2 billion baht) a year ago.

Mr Satterfield said US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had raised the issue with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak a year ago and was assured that arrangements would be made for prompt payment. A year later those companies were being asked to accept significant reductions in the amounts owed, Mr Satterfield said, adding there will be consequences for non-payment of debt or reductions in payment.

“Companies will consider departing the Turkish market or will reduce exposure to Turkish market. This is not a direction which serves the interests of Turkey,” he said. Bilateral trade amounted to some $21 billion last year and the Nato allies have said they aim to lift that to $100 billion.