Two days before Turkey’s Aug. 10 presidential elections, the Moody’s credit rating agency was due to issue its regular review of Turkey. Earlier assessments had prompted anticipation that the agency, which had raised Turkey to investment grade (Baa3) in May 2013, could now downgrade the country.
The government appeared unnerved. On Aug. 5, Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said, “I expect Moody’s decision to be negative rather than positive, for it will make a political assessment.”