INCRA seeks to assess Turkey’s economy

The international credit rating agency INCRA, established as a competitor of Fitch Ratings, Moody's and Standards & Poors after the latest financial crisis, is getting prepared to rate Turkey. The Director of Bertelsmann Foundation, a German think-tank, and the coordinator of the International Non-Profit Credit Rating Agency (INCRA), Annette Heuser, stated that they have rated American, French, German, Brazilian, Italian and Japanese economies so far and are considering whether to rate the Turkish economy or not. Heuser noted that INCRA, founded by the Germany-based think-tank after the financial crisis in 2008, will be a new competitor to the three big credit rating agencies. Heuser underlined the fact that unlike other credit rating agencies, they do not have any agreements with national treasuries or request any sort of a fee and added that INCRA does an unsolicited credit rating. "We have had meetings with senior officials of some of the governments but we have not consulted them during the rating process," said Heuser.

Heuser noted that INCRA's rating is carried out by using macro-economic data which takes the opinions of economists and political analysts. Noting that they are a non-profit rating agency, Heuser said "We believe that non-profit rating agencies are the best model for documenting the transparency and reliability of the ratings. Being a non-profit institution is what makes us different from all the other credit rating agencies. We believe the status quo needs to be challenged in order to find solutions in the credit ratings sector."

Various governments and companies can make contributions to INCRA, which was founded through a $400 million (TL 909.18 million) contribution fund two years ago for a special and independent rating.