ADVERTISEMENT

Quake Latest: Turkey To Support Equities, Pause Some Gold Buying

Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund will support equities with a new mechanism to contain the market fallout from the Feb. 6 earthquakes, according to officials who spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity.

A Turkish national flag placed at the site of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023.
A Turkish national flag placed at the site of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023.

Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund will support equities with a new mechanism to contain the market fallout from the Feb. 6 earthquakes, according to officials who spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity. Turkey will also suspend some gold imports. 

The twin earthquakes, which hit the country’s southeast last week, have killed over 37,000 people in Turkey and Syria. 

Key Developments:

  • Turkey Wealth Fund to Support Equities With New Mechanism
  • Turkey Set to Temporarily Suspend Some Gold Imports
  • Turkey Offers Support for Stocks as Trading to Resume Wednesday
  • Turkey Plans Tax Waiver for Share Buybacks on Stock Exchange
  • ‘The Dude’ Draws Regulator Ire With Big Sales After Turkey Quake
  • Turkish Business Group Sees Quakes’ Economic Toll at $84 Billion
  • Why Turkey’s Next Election Is a Real Test for Erdogan: QuickTake

(All times Istanbul, GMT+3)

A Turkish national flag placed at the site of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023.Photographer: David Lombeida/Bloomberg
A Turkish national flag placed at the site of a collapsed building in Hatay, Turkey, on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023.Photographer: David Lombeida/Bloomberg

Turkey Set to Temporarily Suspend Some Gold Imports (1:04 p.m.)

Turkey will suspend some gold imports as part of an emergency plan to mitigate the economic fallout from the earthquakes, according to an official with direct knowledge of the matter. The ministry declined to comment.

Read more: Turkey Set to Temporarily Suspend Some Gold Imports

Turkey Wealth Fund to Support Equities (1:00 p.m.)

Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund will also support equities with a new fund, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The so-called price stability fund will receive capital from state lenders and use the cash to buy stocks at times of volatility, the officials said, asking not to be identified as the decision hasn’t been made public.

Read more: Turkey Wealth Fund to Support Equities with New Mechanism

Turkey Thanks Israel For Quake Support (11:08 a.m.)

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen held a joint press conference in Ankara, at which Cavusoglu praised Israel’s rescue teams dispatched to Turkey shortly after the quakes. Cohen is expected to visit the quake-hit areas. 

Read more: Israel and Turkey Resume Full Diplomatic Ties After a Long Rift

Turkey Plans on Resuming Stock Trading Wednesday (10:24 a.m.)

Turkey is planning to restart trading at Borsa Istanbul on Wednesday, according to an official with direct knowledge of the matter.

Authorities were weighing an extension to the trade halt ahead of a meeting on Monday. As of Tuesday morning, the plan is to allow trading to begin on Feb. 15 as originally intended.

Assad Allows UN to Use Additional Border Crossings with Turkey (8:45 a.m.)

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he would grant United Nations agencies permission to use two additional border crossings with Turkey for a period of three months, according to statements issued by the UN and the Syrian government.

Although countries like Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have already ferried aid through the Bab Al-Salam and Al-Ra’ee crossings, the UN held back because it had not secured Assad’s approval. The delay has angered Syrians opposed to Assad who say many lives could have been saved from underneath the rubble if the UN and world powers had acted sooner.

Syria Quake Aid Means Getting ‘Creative’, World Bank Says (08:35 a.m.)

Turkey and Syria will need tens of billions of dollars in aid for their cities to recover from the earthquakes, a senior World Bank official said.

“The bank just delivered $1.8 billion to Turkey because we have relationship,” said Ferid Belhaj, the lender’s president for Middle East and North Africa. “With Syria we don’t have that so we need to be creative,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

Reconstruction to Start Late February (01:17 a.m.)

Turkey will start reconstruction work in all 10 cities hit by the earthquakes before the end of February, Urbanization & Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum said, according to state-run TRT television.

Turkey Denies New Syria Refugee Flow (00:22 a.m.)

Vice President Fuat Oktay denied reports of a refugee flow from Syria after last week’s earthquakes left thousands dead and many people homeless. “A migration wave is out of the question, our borders are under control,” Oktay said referring to security measures in place against a new flow of refugees from across the Syrian border. Turkey, which is home to the world’s largest refugee population with about 3.7 million Syrians, has repeatedly said it can’t absorb more refugees.

--With assistance from , , and .

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.