Turkiye denies rumours of Finance Minister’s resignation as disinformation to cause ‘insecurity’

The Turkish government has denied reports that its Finance Minister wanted to resign before being convinced to stay, calling the rumours disinformation intended to create “unease and insecurity” in global markets.

After several platforms online reportedly claimed this month that Turkiye’s Treasury and Finance Minister, Mehmet Simsek, had resigned and that Turkish Vice President, Cevdet Yılmaz, convinced him to reverse his decision, the Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communication’s Centre for Combating Disinformation yesterday stated that the allegations that Simsek had “decided to resign and was persuaded to remain in office are not true”.

According to the statement by the government body, those rumours were “deliberately” spread to “create uncertainty and mistrust in the markets”, without speculating on the source of the disinformation. “Please do not pay attention to disinformative news that is being circulated to cause unease and insecurity in the markets”.

After taking office as Finance Minister following last year’s presidential and parliamentary elections, Simsek ushered in the return to a more orthodox economic policy – with the tacit approval of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – after years of low interest rates pressured by the President.

The hiking of interest rates by Simsek has helped to combat the soaring inflation that has increasingly affected Turkish markets and prices over the years, with the country’s annual inflation having dipped in June and July amid an expected further gradual decline.

Read: Financial Action Task Force (FATF) removes Turkiye from its ‘grey list’