Turkey appointed former deputy prime minister Lutfi Elvan as its treasury and finance minister to replace President Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law Berat Albayrak, the country’s Official Gazette said on Tuesday.
Albayrak said in a surprise statement on Sunday that he was resigning for health reasons, a day after Erdogan appointed former finance minister Naci Agbal as the central bank chief.
The lira surged 6% against the dollar on Monday after the weekend upheaval on analysts’ expectations for an interest rate hike that could ease pressure on the currency.
The currency, which had tumbled 30% this year to a series of record lows, weakened 1.6% on Tuesday to 8.1800 from a close of 8.0520 on Monday.
Elvan, from Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, was development minister between 2016 and 2018 and before that served as a deputy prime minister.
On Monday, newly-installed governor Naci Agbal said the central bank would “decisively” use all policy tools to achieve its main goal of price stability.
Turkish inflation has held near 12% all year, well above a target of around 5%.
(Reuters)
