The governor of the Central Bank, Murat Uysal, was removed by decree of the president, and Naci Ağbal was appointed in his place.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan removed the governor of the Central Bank, Murat Uysal.

With the Presidential Decree published in the Official Gazette, former Finance Minister Naci Ağbal was appointed to replace Uysal.

Ağbal, who served as Finance Minister for two terms, has served as Chairman of the Presidency of Strategy and Budget since July 2018.

Uysal was served by Murat Çetinkaya, who was fired by Erdoğan on July 6, 2019.

Uysal became the second Central Bank president to be removed from office in 16 months.

Ağbal has served as the president of the presidential strategy and budget since July 2018, when the presidency system was introduced. İbrahim Şenel was appointed to replace Ağbal with the decision published in the Official Gazette.

Born in 1968, Ağbal served as Finance Minister between November 2015 and July 2018, under the 64 governments established by Ahmet Davutoğlu and the 65 government formed by Binali Yıldırım.

During his tenure, the Justice and Development Party served as an advisor to the minister, then the General Directorate of Budget and Financial Control, and finally as undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance. Until 2015, he was a member of the board of directors of TÜPRAŞ, PETKİM and THY and of the Council of Higher Education (YÖK).

He resigned his post to become a deputy in 2015; In September 2015, he was vice president of the Justice and Development for the Economy Party, shortly before becoming minister.

Ağbal, who was not a candidate in the June 24, 2018 elections, has served as Head of Strategy and Budget for more than two years. In 2018, Berat Albayrak, President Erdoğan’s son-in-law, was appointed Minister of Finance and Treasury to replace Ağbal.

The coronavirus began to spread around the world in February, production cannot be achieved without China working to ensure from Turkey, he said the outbreak may be opportunities for economic growth in Turkey.

Making a statement after the Elazıp earthquake in January 2020, Ağbal said: “With the legal changes made during the AK Party rule, standards have been set for the earthquake resistance of new buildings, a structure has been developed Institution Against Earthquake Risk “and made a statement on earthquake taxes:

“Much more resources were spent on the development and construction of public buildings associated with the earthquake, as well as on technology and human resource infrastructure than the revenue raised here. There is no penny that we cannot count on public spending.”

Whether or not the president of the Central Bank could be removed by the Presidential Decree generated controversy during Uysal’s appointment and was criticized by some economists.

Following the transition to the Presidential Government System in 2018, a decree issued a regulation to appoint the presidents of the Central Bank for a period of four years by the president. Before this system, the appointment of the head of the Central Bank was made by the Council of Ministers for five years.

On July 10, 2018, the ‘Presidential Decree on appointment procedures for high-level public administrators and public institutions and bodies’ was published in the Official Gazette.

Three lists were also added to the decree, including the names of the public institutions affected by the decree.

The Central Bank is on lists number 1 and 3.

Article 4 of the decree under the heading of “ mandates ” paves the way for the removal of senior officials from the public institutions listed in list 1 by the President before his term expires:

“The mandate of those included in table (I) attached to this Presidential Decree cannot exceed the mandate of the President on the date of their appointment. When the mandate of the President expires, their function also ends. However, they continue in their functions. until their appointment is made. They can be removed by the president even before their term expires. ”

However, in Article 7, “The provisions of Article 4 are not applicable to those included in the numbered table (III) attached to this Presidential Decree. Their mandate is shown in the attached table (III).” include statements.

Table (III) establishes that the term of the CBRT president is 4 years.

In the appointment decisions published in the Official Gazette on Saturday, it was indicated that the governor of the Central Bank, Çetinkaya, was “removed in accordance with article 2” of the same decree.

Article 2 establishes: “The president, who has the executive power in accordance with article 104 of the Constitution, has the powers of the authorities authorized to appoint. The personnel, positions and functions that appear in table (I) attached to this Presidential Decree are appointed by decision of the President “.