ECONOMY

Erdogan vows to attract more foreign investors, implement IMF austerity plan

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – The leader of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), apparently set for victory in yesterday’s Turkish elections, pledged to work to make the NATO member country more open and attractive to foreign investment. Turkey, hauling itself out of a devastating economic crisis, has traditionally failed to attract foreign investment. A slow-moving legal system and bureaucracy deter many would-be foreign investors. «We are completely in favor of foreign investment, and we will be more open to foreign investment than ever before,» AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Reuters in an interview. Markets, which appear reassured by the AKP’s insistence that it backs pro-Western, secularist policies, are seeking swift action from whatever government emerges to restore political confidence, bring down interest rates on massive debt and safeguard a $16 billion IMF crisis pact. AKP has said it would stick to the program with only minor refinements.

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