Turkey seeks 20 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia

Turkey seeks 20 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia
Publish:
Update: 11 August 2022 19:07
A+ A-
The online news outlet Middle East Eye said that technical talks were underway with the Gulf country.

Turkish treasury sources said that Turkey was seeking 20 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia, according to Middle East Eye. 

The online news outlet said that technical talks were underway after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Ankara and held talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in June.

The visit marked the ending of a four-year rift between the leaders over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the premises of the Istanbul Consulate of Saudi Arabia. 

The Turkish President initially said the culprits should be prosecuted in Istanbul but later the Turkish court transferred the case to Saudi Arabia. 

A joint declaration by the two governments following the crown prince’s visit stressed the will to deepen trade, energy, and defense ties.

Middle East Eye also quoted two separate Turkish sources saying that Turkey was also looking for similar deposits from the UAE and Qatar.

Earlier this month Bloomberg reported that Russian state firm Rosatom had decided to wire 15 billion dollars to Turkey for the construction of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant, and opened a bid to get a 6.1 billion dollars credit line, temporarily placing the funds into Turkish treasury bonds and accounts.

This came at a time when the Turkish central bank tried to boost reserves to help close the widening gap in foreign trade.

Last week Turkey’s official reserves rose the most since February, and Turkish Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said foreign direct investment was flowing to Turkey without mentioning the source. 

The central bank in the last ten years finalized swap agreements totaling a 28 billion dollars with countries like China, Qatar, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates