Treasury honored for successful debt management during difficult periods


One of the most prominent publishers in its field with its evaluations on the global debt and equity capital markets, GlobalCapital has honored the debt management success of Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Ministry during difficult periods.

The U.K.-based business magazine declared the ministry’s debt management department as the Public Debt Management Office of the Year, a statement by the ministry said yesterday.

GlobalCapital (formerly Euroweek) is one of the most prominent publishers in the field and prepares periodic market assessments, reports, articles and interviews about international capital markets.

The ministry’s bond issuance department was evaluated as the most successful unit managing borrowing processes through analyzing the investor reflex with the most accurate tools at right times, in a period when international markets were struggling with great uncertainties, facing currency exchange attacks and the impact of diplomatic matters were felt, according to the statement.

HIGH CONFIDENCE

In his evaluation, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak noted the importance of receiving such an award, particularly in a period of intense Turkey-related speculative attacks and negative perception operations.

"While maintaining strong investor confidence, we borrowed via the right instruments at the right time. We have always kept market confidence high," Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said, citing the report.

Noting the high demand for the borrowing instruments they had issued, the minister stressed that "we have analyzed each instrument in detail. As a result, we used the right tools at the right time and completed the processes with interest rates below the ideal projections."

Pointing to Turkey’s healthy public indebtedness ratios globally, Albayrak said, "This keeps our hand strong. We will head for our goals while preserving our strength and maintaining our achievements."

He further emphasized that during this period of extraordinary volatility, the whole team put forth an error-free projection to predict how investors would react and that they benefited from the most appropriate windows to provide funds.

SUCCESSFUL BORROWING

In its assessment, GlobalCapital underlined that Turkey was forced to grapple with difficult economic conditions over the past year.

"Through it all, the debt management office has been a rock of professionalism," the magazine said.

"The August of 2018 was the scene of one of the most acute and severe currency attacks in Turkey’s history. Nevertheless, Turkey returned to the markets and provided $2 billion via 5-year bonds," it added.

Pointing to studies carried out with great punctiliousness, and despite all the difficult periods, GlobalCapital concluded that the strong trust given to investors allowed the process to be overcome easily.