Dismissal of the Governor of the Central Bank of Turkey by night decree

Istanbul: Turkey’s Central Bank Governor Naji Iqbal was removed from office and appointed economist and politician Sahab Kafcioglu in his place, according to a presidential decree published late Friday night, a decision that would raise concerns about the independence of Turkey. this institution.

Iqbal, the former finance minister, has served as governor of the central bank since November after being appointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of the reform of his economic team.

No official reason was given for the dismissal, but this decision was made a day after the Turkish central bank, on Thursday, raised the main interest rate to 19 percent. The central bank had made it clear that it wanted to tackle inflation, which rose 15.6 percent year-on-year in February.

The Turkish economy, which was already fragile before the pandemic crisis, is giving worrying signs as inflation continues and the Turkish lira weakens.

Erdogan openly rejects high interest rates, believing they increase inflation, and has previously described them as “the mother and father of all evil.”

He wants to reduce the annual inflation rate to less than 10 by the end of next year and to 5% by the next elections scheduled for 2023.

Kavcıo الذي lu, whose appointment came on Friday evening after the financial markets closed, became the fourth central bank governor since July 2019.

He is an economist and a former legislator for the ruling party. In February, he wrote an opinion article in the official Yeni Safak newspaper, in which he said that the central bank should not implement the high interest policy because that would lead to more inflation. .