Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has dismissed Turkish central bank governor Murat Chitin Qaya and appointed Murad Oisal instead, Erdogan said, citing Erdogan as saying that the decision was to reject the government's repeated demands to cut interest rates.
Kaya's mandate was to last for four years - until 2020.
The dismissal comes at a time when the government is trying to control the financial markets in light of fluctuating local currency exchange rates.
"We have told him repeatedly during economic meetings that interest rates should be cut," Erdogan was quoted as saying. "We have been told that a rate cut will contribute to reducing inflation, he did not do what was necessary."
She noted that the Turkish president mentioned the reason for the dismissal of Qaya during a consultation meeting in Istanbul with members of the ruling Justice and Development Party.
There was no official reason to isolate the governor, but government sources attributed Erdogan's frustration to the bank keeping the benchmark interest rate at 24 percent since September to support the troubled lira.
In a written statement yesterday, Oisal said he would work independently on the application of monetary policy instruments that focus on achieving and maintaining the basic objective of stabilizing prices.
The Turkish president has pledged in recent months to protect the national currency and punish those who target it through speculation, in the wake of the banks - the so-called - behind the fluctuations of the exchange rate of the lira in the country, and in the international exchange markets.