Turkey has discovered 99 tons of gold treasure pegged at six billion dollars, which is more than some countries' GDP. The deposit was discovered by Fahrettin Poyraz, the head of Agricultural Credit Cooperatives of Turkey, and Gubertas, a fertilizer production firm, reported a state Turkish News Agency, Anadolu.
Within two years, we will extract the first gold and bring value to the Turkish economy, Poyraz told Anadolu. Shares of Gubertas climbed 10 percent on Turkish exchanges on the news.
This year, Turkey had broken its record by producing 38 tons of gold. Its Energy Minister, Faith Donmez, had set a target to reach an annual production of 100 tons back in September.
The value of this discovery is more than the GDP of some countries. The estimated value of this gold is 6 billion dollars, while the GDP of Maldives is 4.87 billion dollars. Worldometer pegs the GDP of Burundi at 3,17 billion dollars, while Barbados, Guyana, Montenegro, Mauritania, Lesotho are much smaller than 6 billion dollars.
On the other hand, The European Union is planning $590 million over the next year to help Syrian refugees in Turkey. However, the money wouldn't go directly to the Turkish government.
The commission said they provide much-needed cash to more than 1.8 million refugees and help educate more than 700,000 children. The programs are managed by the Turkish Red Crescent in partnership with the Red Cross and UNICEF.
With inputs from agencies
(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)