By MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) — For those who foresee Turkey one day joining the European monetary union and the EU itself, the case just grew stronger.

Ankara just got an upgrade on its long-term national credit rating, something few nations have been able to pull off lately.

S&P cited the prudent management of Turkey’s budget, and the fact that its banking system is sensibly regulated and isn’t heavily leveraged. The government can even place debt in its own currency with the banks for up to 10 years.
All that stands in stark contrast to Greece, where public sector spending has blown the budgets and national debt out of control, throwing the nation and the entire euro-zone into a tizzy.

If Greece wants a model for how to better manage public finances, it needn’t look farther than its ancient and bitter rival across the Aegean Sea.

And if nothing else will force Athens to reform, perhaps a gentle threat to just swap Turkey for Greece would do the trick.

— Tom Bemis, assistant managing editor