The Turkish lira sank to new historic lows on Wednesday, weakening some 7%, a likely indication of Turkey’s return to conventional market policies.
The lira, which has dropped since a currency crash in 2021, was trading at 23.12 against the greenback at 2 p.m. GMT on Wednesday.
Critics have argued that the government was containing the currency’s devaluation in the leadup to the critical May 14 general elections by channeling hard currency to markets by using backdoor means, diverging from the free market economy. The Central Bank’s forex reserves have fallen below zero for the first time since 2002, official data shows.
Turkey’s new Finance and Treasury Minister Mehmet Simsek, who is known as a champion of conventional economy politics, stressed the importance of returning to rational ground in the country’s economic policies while he accepted his portfolio from his predecessor on Sunday.
