Turkey’s lira dived to a record low against the dollar on Monday after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed to press on with a policy of lowering interest rates to slow inflation and boost exports and growth. Citing Islam, Erdoğan said that people should expect his government to continue cutting borrowing costs. “We are lowering interest rates. Don’t expect anything else from me,” Erdoğan said on Sunday in televised comments in Istanbul. “As a Muslim, I will continue to do what is required by nas (Islamic teachings).” The lira fell to as low as 17.5 per dollar. It was trading down 6.2 percent at 17.44 per dollar at 9:58 a.m. local time. The lira has lost more than half of its value this year, with most of those losses coming since the start of November. Erdoğan said the volatility in the lira should be seen as an attack on the country’s economy and as assuring inflation. Consumer price inflation hit 21.3 percent in November. The lira has slumped after Erdoğan shocked investors in Turkey by ordering the central bank to cut interest rates despite faster inflation. The bank has lowered borrowing costs by 5 percentage points to 14 percent since September. Erdoğan says his low-interest rate economic programme is targeting higher exports, more lending to businesses, and faster economic growth. On Saturday, the Turkish Business and Industry Association (TÜSIAD), a group representing Turkey’s biggest companies, called on the president to abandon his unorthodox policies. “It has become clear that goals under this economic programme that is being attempted will not be achieved,” TÜSİAD said, adding that the steps had created “an environment of distrust and instability” that risked causing “much bigger” problems. Erdoğan responded to the association on Sunday, saying the nation “will not allow you to topple this government and replace it with a new one, which you can exploit”.
Ahval