Turkey’s finance, banking chiefs to visit Saudi Arabia in search of foreign funds

Turkey’s finance, banking chiefs to visit Saudi Arabia in search of foreign funds

ANKARA — Turkey’s Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek and Central Bank Governor Gaye Erkan are set to travel to Saudi Arabia this week, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported Tuesday.

Anadolu said ​​Simsek and Erkan will hold meetings with Saudi investors on Wednesday. On their first trip together, the two are also expected to meet with Saudi officials. Erkan was tapped as the country’s first female central bank governor last month as part of a major economic overhaul in Turkey.

The visit comes as the country’s new economy management is scrambling to attract foreign funds in a bid to ease the country’s foreign currency crunch and raise the central bank’s depleted reserves.

Simsek pledged on Tuesday that their efforts to draw foreign funds will continue, adding that the central bank’s reserves have risen to $14.2 billion after falling below zero ahead of the country's May general elections. 

“Our rational policies aiming to contribute to the rise of the Central Bank's reserves and our efforts to provide additional foreign funds continue unabated,” he wrote on Twitter.

The visit will be the third leg of Simsek’s Gulf tour. Following their visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) earlier this month, Simsek and Turkey’s Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz traveled to