The People’s Bank of China has transferred $1 billion worth of funds to Turkey in, Beijing’s biggest support package ever for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bloomberg reported at the weekend.
The cash infusion boosted Turkey’s foreign reserves around the time of Istanbul local elections that had left international investors fretting about the country’s political and financial stability.
The Chinese funds also show Turkey is making headway in its efforts to diversify sources of foreign investment amid unprecedented tensions with the West.
Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak has said the Asian economy is a promising partner from which Turkey needs to attract investment.
Turkey and China signed the currency-swap deal seven years ago and have renewed it every three years, however, until last week’s balance of payments data release, there was hardly ever a transfer from China under the swap deal that made a significant contribution to Turkish holdings.
It will be recalled that Nigeria and China signed a $2.5billion currency swap deal in April last year.
