RTRS-Ankara Defers USD600mn Gas Payment To Moscow To 2024

Reuters is reportingthat according to two sources, Ankara has deferred the payment of USD600mn of a gas bill to Russia until 2024 under a deal announced last week. The deal is set to allow Turkey to postponed the payment of up to USD4bn until 2024, painting a picture of an increasingly energy-independent Turkey just days before the first round of the presidential election on 14 May.

• Reuters reports: "The gas payments deal relieves some pressure on Turkey's foreign reserves, which have been depleted by unorthodox economic policies meant to support the lira, as well as rising energy prices after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year. "Officially a payment worth $600 million has been postponed to next year. The increase in energy prices had a huge impact on this," one of the sources with knowledge of the matter said."
• The election remains extremely close, with polls showing incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu neck-and-neck, with a second round run-off on 28 May a distinct possibility.
• Should Kilicdaroglu win and the opposition take control of parliament it is unclear what the future of this deal would look like. Kilicdaroglu seen as a more pro-European candidate, risking Russia pulling the plug on the deferral if Ankara is seen as moving too close to Brussels/Washington, D.C.