Econometric analysis of structural breaks in turkey's credit default swap (cds)

Credit default swap (CDS) is defined as a credit derivative instrument that protects the creditor against a nonrepayment risk of a financial loan. CDS provides important information to investors about the credibility of countries, as well as being a risk indicator closely followed by market participants as it shows the credit risk concurrently. The purpose of this study is to determine the structural breaks in the CDS for Turkey and the economic and political reasons behind them. For this purpose, unit root test with multiple structural breaks is used to determine the structural break dates, using monthly-CDS data from January 2012 to December 2016 that based on 5-year CDS base points. According to the test results, significant structural breaks are found at the credit risk premium for Turkey in April 2013, September 2014, June 2015 and finally in February 2016. It seems that the economic and political events that took place on these dates were influential in the structural breaks on the CDS.