Coronavirus climbs up Turkey’s economic risk ladder (Al Monitor, March 12, 2020)

The global fallout from the coronavirus outbreak is turning up pressure on the struggling Turkish economy, which has long been stuck in a roller coaster of domestic and foreign tensions. On March 11, Ankara confirmed its first infection case, with the virus scare coming hot on the heels of war jitters from Turkey’s military involvement in Syria.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 from China has badly rattled the global economy, which was already volatile and shaken by Washington’s trade moves against China. While the ultimate human and economic toll of the epidemic remains anyone’s guess, moves to minimize the fallout are spawning “derivative” risks such as the oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.