Turkey and Qatar are in the final stages of talks for Doha to provide up to $10bn in funding for Ankara, including up to $3bn by the end of this year, according to two senior Turkish officials.
One of the officials told Reuters the total funding could take the form of a swap, eurobond or other method, and that the Turkish and Qatari leaders had discussed the issue.
Turkey is also in the final stage of talks with Saudi Arabia over Riyadh placing a $5bn deposit at the Turkish Central Bank, a Saudi finance ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.
The foreign funding could help shore up foreign exchange reserves to backstop Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unorthodox policy of pursuing interest rate cuts and other stimulus measures despite soaring inflation and a slumping currency.
Turkey’s treasury and officials in Qatar were not immediately available for comment.
With western countries balking at investments in Turkey, Ankara has turned to “friendly” countries for foreign resources to backstop its policy of supporting the lira by balancing the economy’s supply and demand for foreign exchange.
Turkey’s central bank already had in place a swap deal with Qatar’s central bank, which was originally worth $5bn but was tripled in 2020 to $15bn.
The sources spoke to Reuters under condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the funding.
“Talks for Qatar to provide new resources to Turkey have reached the final stage,” the first official said.
“A minimum amount of $8bn is foreseen” but it could total “as much as $10bn”, of which $2bn-$3bn is to be obtained this year and the rest next year, the source added.
“This could be a swap or eurobond, but they are discussing several methods. There is a mutual agreement.”
The second Turkish official said the talks for $2bn-$3bn funding for this year were focused on the eurobond.
