Turkish lira hits new low as Erdogan selects cabinet

ISTANBUL: Turkey’s lira weakened more than 1% to a fresh record low on Tuesday as President Tayyip Erdogan, having...
30 May, 2023

ISTANBUL: Turkey’s lira weakened more than 1% to a fresh record low on Tuesday as President Tayyip Erdogan, having won Sunday’s presidential election runoff, decides who to appoint to cabinet to run economic policy.

The lira hit an all-time low of 20.34 against the dollar, compared with a close of 20.0990 on Monday, when it had its worst trading day in eight months.

The latest weakness brought the lira’s losses since the start of the year to nearly 8%. Over the last decade it has shed more than 90% amid bouts of soaring inflation.

Turkish lira teeters near record low as Erdogan secures victory

Inflation peaked at a 24-year high of more than 85% last year, with the surge in prices triggered by an unorthodox monetary policy, fostered by Erdogan, of cutting interest rates despite high inflation.

Investor attention is now focused on whether Erdogan will maintain that policy or choose to adopt more orthodox policies, after

an internal party team sketched out alternatives in recent weeks.

After a currency crisis in 2021, Turkish authorities took an increasingly hands-on role in foreign exchange markets. Daily moves became unnaturally small while FX and gold reserves dwindled.

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