(Bloomberg) -- Qatar has pledged $15 billion of direct investment in Turkey amid turbulence in the nation's markets following a spat with the U.S.
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Al Thani has pledged the amount in his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday, according to state-run Anadolu Agency. The finance ministers of both countries were also present.
“This is part of the Turkish government's strategy to avoid the International Monetary Fund by finding alternative external support,” Allianz SE chief economic adviser Mohamed El-Erian said in a tweet. “To be a sustainable stabilizer, funding needs to be larger and reach the central bank.”
Turkish assets plummeted this week, led by lira, as a diplomatic feud with the U.S. added to the country's risks surrounding double-digit inflation. Erdogan imposed a spate of new import tariffs on American goods as he resisted pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to release an American pastor held on charges of aiding a coup attempt two years ago.
Ibrahim Kalin, spokesman for the president, confirmed the amount of investment in a tweet. The lira's gains accelerated to 5.5 percent against the dollar after the reports. The state-run Qatar News Agency also confirmed the investment.
To contact the reporter on this story: Selcuk Gokoluk in London at sgokoluk@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dana El Baltaji at delbaltaji@bloomberg.net, Srinivasan Sivabalan, Robert Brand
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