12:11 - 15.10.2019

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October 15, Fineko/abc.az. U.S.’ plans to impose sanctions against Turkey can hardly pass without affecting the economy of the latter.

Over the past week the Turkish lira has lost 4% of its cost. So, if last week US dollar rate was 5.7 liras to the dollar, now this figure has risen up to 5.9 liras.

Vugar Bayramov, the head of the Center for Economic & Social Development, told ABC.AZ that in case the White House toughens sanctions against Turkey, it is going to tell on the Turkish economy, for example, trigger the depreciation and have negative impact in other forms in this country.

"In particular, there may be a decrease in the volume of foreign direct investments in the Turkish economy," Bayramov underlined.

Center’s head called Turkey an important partner not only in strategic but also in economic terms for Azerbaijan and added that in the last few years Azerbaijan has invested more than $15 bn in the Turkish economy.

"Turkey is the second key partner in Azerbaijan's non-oil exports. One third of our non-oil export accounts for Turkey. In this regard, amid the depreciation of the Turkish lira, there may be a decline in exports from Azerbaijan to Turkey. However, serious downturns are not predicted yet, but the fallen lira will hardly cause the reduction of Azerbaijan’s export to the Turkish market. In all cases, the weakening of the Turkish economy is not considered acceptable to us. In general, in case of sanctions, it is expected that the lira will exceed the psychological limit of 6 points," Bayramov said.

By Elmir Murad