ANKARA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci on Saturday slammed the negative comments from international credit rating agencies on Turkey's economy, calling it "purposeful" ahead of June 24 general elections.
"We consider the statements from Fitch and Moody's on Turkey in this period as a move to support those with a manipulative and speculative approach. We do not deem them as healthy but hasty and purposeful," Zeybekci said in the Aegean province of Denizli.
"Those agencies will revise their approaches after June 24 elections just as they had revised their growth forecast on Turkey for four or five times in 2017," he added.
"We are addressing market concerns through credible policy actions," Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said Saturday on his Twitter account.
"Work has been in progress to further strengthen the policy mix, tightening fiscal policy via spending cuts," he said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday blamed some countries and international financial institutions for the recent foreign exchange rate volatility.
Moody's announced Friday that it would review Turkey's Ba2 rating to decide if it should be downgraded, citing concern over economic management and erosion of investor confidence.
On March 8, Moody's downgraded Turkey's sovereign rating to Ba2 from Ba1 and changed its outlook to "stable" from "negative."
Fitch said in a recent statement that it would place 25 Turkish banks' ratings on watch negative.
Another prominent credit rating agency, Standard and Poor's, has also listed the country at non-investment grade.
