Economy Turkish minister to meet US investors next month By Reuters August 27, 2023 Reuters/Cagla Gurdogan Finance minister Mehmet Simsek will give a speech and answer investors' questions at Goldman Sachs headquarters Turkish finance minister Mehmet Simsek, who is leading the country’s economic U-turn toward orthodox policies, will hold his first meeting abroad with foreign investors on September 19 in New York, according to an invitation to the event. Simsek will give a speech and answer investors’ questions at Goldman Sachs headquarters, marking the first such overseas event after President Tayyip Erdogan appointed him in June to oversee the policy turnaround, which has included aggressive interest rate hikes. The investment conference is co-hosted by the Wall Street bank and the Turkiye-US Business Council, according to the invitation obtained by Reuters. Simsek will give “an overview of his economic agenda” for the audience, it said. Representatives for both the finance ministry and Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Turkey’s central bank hiked its key interest rate by a larger-than-expected 750 basis points (bps) to 25 percent on Thursday. The surprise move leaves the policy rate at its highest level since 2019, and sent the Turkish currency to its strongest level since mid-July. The bank has raised its one-week repo rate by 1,650 basis points since June. The policy committee – including three members taking part for the first time and seen as having hawkish sway – repeated it would tighten “as much as needed in a timely and gradual manner” to cool inflation, which soared to nearly 48 percent last month.
