As loyal readers would know, I have been a staunch critic of the government’s efforts to make a financial center out of Istanbul.
Not that it is not a great idea. If nothing else, it will mean more freelance consulting and writing jobs for your friendly neighborhood economist
But I just don’t think making long grocery lists without thinking about binding constraints and without considering the competition is the way to achieve it.
However, even I seem to be convinced that Istanbul is well on its way to becoming a financial center after seeing the picture below, taken in Istanbul’s designated financial center district Atasehir a few days ago:
The real deal sure beats the brass one of NYC:
Joking aside, according to a recent article in the Hurriyet Daily News, government bigwigs are boasting that the Atasehir financial center will encompass 177 hectares, making it bigger than Wall Street and the City. Which makes me wonder if my connected friends in Ankara, who have been claiming for a while that the IFC project is nothing more than a real estate rent-seeking scheme for AKP cronies, are right after all…
BTW, a meeting I am attending this week has made it for the first time to FT”s weekly calendar, so maybe there is something going for Istanbul, after all:)…