Turkey: the pound at its lowest after three sackings at the Central Bank by Erdogan

While Turkey has been facing a currency crisis for years, the Turkish lira hit its all-time low on Thursday, October 14, 2021. Here, a bureau de change worker counts Turkish lira banknotes on August 6, 2020 at Istanbul.

© Yasin Akgul, AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

As the country faces a currency crisis, the Turkish lira hit its all-time low against the greenback on Thursday, October 14, losing a fifth of its value to trade at 9.19 pounds to the dollar.

The markets are worried after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sacked three Turkish Central Bank executives by a decree on the night of Wednesday to Thursday.

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The Turkish president has just dismissed three members of the Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee who were not in favor of keeping interest rates lower.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants low rates and according to him, high interest rates are " 

 " because they encourage prices to rise.

A vision that goes against the grain of classical economic theories.

This is not the first time that the president has

by separating from central bank leaders who do not go in his direction.

New Turkish military operation in Syria?

These repeated interventions worry investors.

They doubt the independence of the Central Bank, as well as the will and the capacity of the country to

which undermines it.

It reaches nearly 20%, one of the highest rates in the world.

Geopolitical tensions also explain this fall of the Turkish lira.

Investors also fear another Turkish military operation in Syria.

This after a series of incidents at its borders

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• Turkey

• Economy

• Currencies

• Finance

• Economic crisis

• Recep Tayyip Erdogan

• Syria