What’s in the cards for Lanka to do business with Turkey
Sri Lanka was making international headlines in recent weeks on the lines of potential default of debt payments that would lead the country into bankruptcy soon. Turkey on the other hand, was way ahead with unreasonable inflation rates and further depreciation of its currency lira, as President Tayyip Erdogan determined to keep the policy rates low.
A Reuters poll showed this week that Turkey's annual inflation rate is seen rising to around 47% in January, the highest in nearly 20 years.
According to reports from Turkish media quoting independent economists, the country's current inflation is more than fifty percent as the lira continues to further depreciate against dollar.
Turkish President Erdogan made it clear that his economic policy decisions are in keeping with the Islamic faith even though many Turkish citizens lost nearly half of their purchasing power within weeks.
Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was here on Friday on an official visit and he called on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat. Minister Cavusoglu said the diversification of bilateral trade would open up the Turkish
market to a wide range of Sri Lankan products while assuring that steps would be taken to educate his country’s entrepreneurs about investment opportunities available in Sri Lanka, according to an official statement issued by the Presidential Secretariat.
Turkey was one of the leading markets in Europe for ‘Ceylon Tea’
despite many competitors. Last week, the Government announced that an agreement had been reached with Iran to settle US$ 251 million in oil import dues by trading tea. Not sure what’s in the cards for Sri Lanka to do business with Turkey as both nations are currently experiencing a financial crisis.