Iran Press/Asia: The lira has lost some 46 percent of its value against the U.S. currency this year, largely over worries about President Tayyip Erdogan’s influence over the economy, his repeated calls for lower interest rates and worsening ties with the United States.
Turkish banking watchdog BDDK said it will limit Turkish banks’ swap, spot and forward transactions with foreign investors to 50 percent of a bank’s equity.
In a statement, the BDDK said the rate will be calculated daily and new transactions will not be performed or renewed until the current excess of the amount is realized at half of a bank’s capital.
This is while President Tayyip Erdogan denied that Turkey is in a currency crisis, dismissing a plunge in the lira as ‘fluctuations’ which have nothing to do with economic fundamentals.
Erdogan said those who plotted against Turkey in a failed coup attempt in July 2016 were now trying to target the country through its economy, and pledged to fight back. He did not name any countries.
“Those who can’t compete with us on the ground have brought online fictional currency plots that have nothing to with the realities of our country, production and real economy,” Erdogan told a provincial meeting of his AK Party in the Black Sea coastal town of Rize.
The Turkish lira has lost about 40 percent this year alone, largely over worries about Erdogan’s influence over the economy, his repeated calls for lower interest rates in the face of high inflation and deteriorating ties with the United States.
The two governments have been at odds over a wide range of topics - from diverging interests in Syria, to Turkey’s ambition to buy Russian defence systems, and the case of evangelical pastor Andrew Brunson, who is on trial in Turkey on terrorism charges.
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