Erdogan's rivals won Istanbul. Now they have to stem its runaway debt.
Ercan Ersoy, Bloomberg Published 6:06 am CDT, Sunday, July 21, 2019
Turkey's opposition twice took on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's political machine in Istanbul and won.
Dismantling what it calls a legacy of waste and runaway debt in the country's biggest city might prove a bigger challenge.
An internal audit found that the municipality's unconsolidated debt more than tripled since 2014, with new Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu expecting its outstanding liabilities to grow another 30% this year to as much as 35 billion liras ($6.1 billion). Given the wild swings in the lira, another vulnerability is the city's unhedged foreign debt, which accounts for 84% of the total, according to Fitch Ratings.
More:Erdogan's rivals won Istanbul. Now they have to stem its runaway debt. - Alton Telegraph