Turkey buys time before day of IMF reckoning

Main elements of crisis remain unaddressed, with eventual bailout most probable outcome

Until reports came on Thursday night that the US was preparing to impose more sanctions, the Turkish government had had a decent few days. The currency crisis, which threatened to become chaotic on Monday, had improved. The lira had almost returned to its level of a week ago. During that time, the country had increased liquidity in its banking system, unveiled $15bn (11.8bn) of direct investment from Qatar, announced a clampdown on short-sellers and on Thursday its finance minister, Berat Albayrak, talked the language of fiscal discipline on a phone call with investors. There have been worse fightbacks.

Yet there is a big difference between buying time and turning a corner. Turkey has merely achieved the former. All the main elements of the crisis remain unaddressed. The Qatari money was pledged at impressive speed but the external funding requirement is enormous - about $220bn during the next 12 months, economists estimate.

Related: Lira rallies as Turkey pledges spending cuts to avoid IMF bailout