Turkey’s lira logs worst year in 2 decades under Erdogan
ANKARA, Turkey – Turkey’s lira has logged its worst year since President Tayyip Erdogan came to power nearly two decades ago, despite his appeal on Friday, December 31, for Turks to trust his unorthodox policies of slashing interest rates in the face of soaring inflation.
The lira – by far the worst performer in emerging markets in 2021, as well as in the last few years – shed 44% of its value against the dollar over the year and 19% in the last week alone.
The currency crisis accelerated in recent months, rattling the $720-billion economy, largely due to Erdogan’s “new economic program” focused on exports and credit despite the lira’s collapse and inflation of more than 21%.
To ease the turmoil, the president unveiled a scheme two weeks ago in which the state protects converted local deposits from losses versus hard currencies, sparking a sharp 50% rally in the lira with support from the central…
