Where did the 18 billion dollars come from?

Saturday, 1 August 2009
Speculations about the foreign currency flow to Turkey have increased. Recently, there is a claim that chunks of gold were brought from Iran. While the government and bureaucracy denied the existence of chunks of gold, they can not explain unregistered foreing currency.
News in the media on July 28, rekindled unregistered foreing currency flow to Turkey. Advocate Şenol Özen representing Iranian businessman İsmail Safarian claimed that 7,5 billion USD and 20 tons of gold that Safarian brought to the country had dissappeared. Özel stated that they think that the money and gold is in a storage that belongs to Customs Inspectorship which is close to the airport in Ankara.
The government tried to prevent the shock effect of the international economical crisis before the local elections. In this direction, they initiated an Assets Peace in order to encourage unregistered foreing currency flow to Turkey from abroad. While it is claimed that the foreign currency and gold brought by the Iranian businessman could not be controlled, Central Bank and Customs Inspectorship were accused.
Central Bank's President Durmuş Yılmaz denied the claim and stated that there should be at least five lorries to carry this amound of money and gold.
In the declaration made from the State Ministery responsible from customs, "The claim that, in the frame of Assets Peace, 7,5 billion USD and 20 tons of gold sent by an Iranian businessman were seized by the Ankara Regional Customs Directorate and kept in a storage close to Esenboğa(Ankara) Airport is groundless and unreal".
Regarding the claim, declaration made from two institutions, while a technical explanation is made about whether chunks of gold and billions of dolars was borught to the country, a door was left open about the possibility of unregistered flow.
AKP government, between November 2008 and March 2009, under the frame of Assests Peace, permitted foreign assets to be brought into Turkey free of inquiry. Starting from this period, in Turkey's balance of payments bill, there was a entry of 18 billion USD whose source could not be explained.
"Central Bank should explain the mysterious foreign exchange entry"In the media, soL columnist Korkut Boratav's articles about this matter were cited very often.
Boratav, in his April 26, 2009 article, wrote, "What is important here is this: 14,9 billion dollars prevented financial market fall into a crisis. If, unregistered capital flow were negative or 'zero', within five months financial markets would be shaken with 14 billions extra foreign currency demand. The rise in foreign currency cost would drift Turkey into a financial crisis similar to 2001. This unregistered foreign currecy flow could have saved Turkey from a financial crisis. The Central Bank could be accounted for balance of payments. So, it is the Central Bank's duty to enlighted this mysterious foreign currency flow" and urged the Central Bank for an explanation.
Rumors about the foreign currency entry helps AKPExplanation of the mystrerious freign currency flow as a custums incident is remanipulating the agenda and makes AKP's job easier. The sum of error in the balance of payments and cash flow that can not be calculated is almost 18 billion dolars. So, it is a very small possibility that all of these stem from a cumstoms incident only.
During the same period, foreign currency accounts were converted into Turkish Lira accounts. This proves that there was a tendency to change gold and foreign currency stored at home. This also shows the tendency of the firms that to bring cash properties they have made in foreign countries but have not declared officially to Turkey, into Turkey in order to cover their debts that resulted due to recession and financial crisis. In fact, between September 2008 and March 2009, there was a total of 7 billion USD of decrease in Turkish firms' and individuals' bank accounts in foreign accounts. This money was probably brought into the country through illegal means.
Aside from this, it is claimed that the businessmen favored by AKP were told by AKP, "If you have money abroad, turn this into capital, we will not ask for their source". It is also claimed that this favor started long before the Assets Peace.
What do the numbers tell?In June 2008, yearly net errors and omissions was close to 10 billion dollars in April this year and pointed towards an unregistered cash flow of 18 billion dollars in between. Central Bank, on the other hand, in the declaration they made the previous day, stated that 4,4 billion dollars is deposit brought to Turkey from abroad and in the coming months this amount will be transferred from net errors and omissions section to capital flow section. Also the fact that unregistered entry peaked in October when exchange rates were moving fast, supports the claim that foreign currency and gold kep at houses were changed.
Next to these, it is also known that AKP, because they were afraid of a shortage of foreign currency in the economy, encouraged foreign exchange flow through various methods. However, the effort to explain all these as a "manipulation" or a "customs incident" goes beyond the borders of economical logic.(soL - News Desk)