Turkey Finance Minister claims US Federal Reserve is owned by five families
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Turkey’s Treasury and Finance Minister has claimed that the United States Federal Reserve does not belong to the American public but is, instead, owned by five wealthy families, sparking criticism by economists.
In a televised interview with the news channel, CNN Turk, yesterday, Nureddin Nebati – appointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan early in December, following the resignation of his predecessor – told the interviewer that “the United States central bank does not belong to the public. It is in the hands of five families.”
Talk of the day: Turkish Finance Minister Nebati believes US Federal Reserve isn’t independent and publicly owned.
“It belongs to five families”
— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) December 30, 2021
Nebati’s comments echo what many observers and critics have claimed over decades, namely that America’s central banking system is secretly privately owned or influenced by a number of old and established banking families who have had a presence in Europe and North America for centuries.
The families cited by such theorists include the Rothschilds, Lehman Brothers, Lazard Brothers, Goldman Sachs, the Warburgs, Kuhn and Loeb and others.
While those banking families and enterprises have had significant influence within the financial systems of Western Europe and the US, the Federal Reserve insists that it is publicly owned and serves the American people since its establishment in 1913.
Although the claim remains unproven, parts of the Reserve appear to be private.
Overseen by a Board of Governors, the 12 banks that the Federal Reserve consists of are set up like private corporations in which the member banks hold stocks and earn dividends.
Those stocks reportedly do not give the banks control or leverage over the system, however.
Over the years, the controversy surrounding the Federal Reserve’s ability to print money has also been raised by many, with critics condemning the fact that trillions of dollars have been printed by the institution which has reportedly led to higher inflation.
The reckless printing of money has especially been an issue seen throughout the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, with reports in 2020 revealing that almost a fifth of all US dollars in existence had been printed that year.
This continued throughout 2021, with the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet amounting to around US$9 trillion – over double of what it was last year.
Despite those issues, Nebati’s comments were criticized and condemned by many around the world.
Timothy Ash, an economist and senior emerging markets strategist at the London-based BlueBay Asset Management, stated on Twitter that “This is insane and embarrassing for Turkey. Turkey needs professionals in key posts.”
He also asked, “How can the finance minister of a G20 country … say such rubbish? This embarrasses Turkey.”
Many see Nebati’s comments as part of Erdogan’s broader unconventional approach to economics, with the President exerting influence over the country’s Central Bank and having pressured it to lower the interest rates over the past few months, leading to foreign investors’ distrust in the Turkish economy and contributing to its financial crisis.
Turkey is a regional power and a newly industrialized country, with a geopolitically strategic location. Its economy, which is classified among the emerging and growth-leading economies, is the twentieth-largest in the world by nominal GDP, and the eleventh-largest by PPP.
It is a charter member of the United Nations, an early member of NATO, the IMF, and the World Bank, and a founding member of the OECD, OSCE, BSEC, OIC, and G20. After becoming one of the early members of the Council of Europe in 1950, Turkey became an associate member of the EEC in 1963, joined the EU Customs Union in 1995, and started accession negotiations with the European Union in 2005.
NUREDDING NEBATI
Nureddin Nebati is a Turkish politician currently serving as the Minister of Finance and Treasury of Turkey. He has previously served in the Grand National Assembly as a member of the Justice and Development Party.
Nebati was appointed by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 2 December 2021, after the former Minister of Finance Lütfi Elvan resigned from the position.
Nebati is of Arab origin. He was born to Süleyman and Emine Nebati and on 1 January 1964 in Viranşehir, a district of Şanlıurfa Province. He majored in political science and public administration at Istanbul University.
Later, he completed his postgraduate education on international relations at Istanbul University’s Social Science Department. Nebati has a doctorate degree from Kocaeli University.
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