Turkish finance minister defends economic links with Russia

Source:Financial Times Date:25Oct2022

Nebati almost sounded coherent and in-tocu with reality in this interview…

up until the very last paragraph

Nebati said the apparent affluence of a decade ago was a “virtual wealth” because the country had an overly-strong lira, high foreign debt, large amounts of imports, low domestic production and “wealth was being transferred out of the country”. He admitted, however, that many Turks were going through a “painful period” — and that he himself had been forced to limit his purchases when travelling abroad. But he added that the government was seeking to limit the pain through social transfers, including two minimum wage rises this year.