Turkish Lira Plunges After Erdogan Fires Central Bank Chief: Biggest single-day selloff in almost three years

Wall Street Journal ^ | 03/22/2021 | Caitlin Ostroff

[SeekAndFind]

Turkey’s currency tumbled 9% on Monday, putting it on course for its biggest single-day selloff since 2018, following the abrupt ouster of the central bank governor last week.

The lira fell to as low as 8.280 a dollar from 7.219, before regaining some ground to trade at about 7.9312 a dollar, according to FactSet. Turkey’s stocks also plunged.

The turmoil comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday unexpectedly fired Naci Agbal, the central bank governor who had repeatedly raised interest rates in an effort to tame inflation since his appointment in November. Foreign investors say the move renewed concerns that the central bank has lost its independence from political influence, diminishing policy makers’ credibility and sapping appetite for Turkish assets.

The new governor, Sahap Kavcioglu, Sunday tried to reassure markets by saying taming inflation is the bank’s main objective. He also pledged to foster economic stability by lowering borrowing costs and bolstering growth. Money managers are concerned that he may allow the currency to depreciate, and accept elevated inflation levels, to lower interest rates.

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“We’re really trying to gauge what the level of commitment to the lira is,” said Simon Harvey, senior foreign exchange market analyst at broker Monex Europe. “We know in Turkey that interest rates are politically sensitive.”

Turkey’s benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 stock index plunged by as much as 9.4% Monday, putting it on course for its sharpest selloff since June 2013 and triggering two trading halts. The Nasdaq-listed iShares MSCI Turkey exchange-traded fund fell 17.5% in premarket trading.

[SeekAndFind]

[SeekAndFind]

One final question we have that has not been addressed by Wall Street, is how much longer will the Turkish population tolerate Erdogan’s increasingly erratic behavior which is now dramatically and adversely impacting the livelihood of this extremely geopolitically valuable nation.

And, related to that, how long before this currency, debt and sovereign crisis morphs into a political crisis, leading to another “coup”, although much less fake than the 2016 one...

[2banana]

How is that new caliphate working out?

[SuperLuminal]

Glad I got rid of those Turkish liars...

[Joe Boucher]

Turkey is NO friend of the U.S.A.

[dfwgator]

Why did the Lira get the works?

[Hootowl]

It’s nobody’s business but the Turks.

[SunkenCiv]

Erdogan on Friday unexpectedly fired Naci Agbal, the central bank governor who had repeatedly raised interest rates in an effort to tame inflation... The new governor, Sahap Kavcioglu, Sunday tried to reassure markets by saying taming inflation is the bank’s main objective. He also pledged to foster economic stability by lowering borrowing costs and bolstering growth.

And see that road that goes up into the mountains? Many people like to visit the mountains, but don't like to climb, so we're going to cut the road so it goes downhill.

[I want the USA back]

Note to biden: DO NOT help the turks!

[Verginius Rufus]

Yesterday was the 200th anniversary of the Greek War of Independence. During the course of the war the Turks massacred a lot of Greeks (notably on Chios)...although the Greek insurgents also killed a lot of "Turks" (Greek Muslims).

The US did not get involved even though there was widespread sympathy for the Greeks among Americans. On the surface that was because of the Monroe Doctrine. But I read an article that claimed that mercantile interests in Massachusetts were making a lot of money from opium by trading with Turkey and did not want to offend the Ottoman government. John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State under Monroe and then President from 1825 to 1829, was from Massachusetts.