Hafize Gaye Erkan said her resignation was for personal reasons
Feb 2,
2024. Posted by Balkan
Periscope - Hellas
Ankara.
Turkey’s
central bank governor Hafize Gaye Erkan has resigned just months after the
country embarked on a major overhaul of economic policy that has featured huge
rises in interest rates.
Erkan, who was appointed in June as the bank’s first female governor, said her resignation was for personal reasons, and the result of a “smear campaign” against her in the local media.
The former
Goldman Sachs banker was one of the main architects of a major shift
towards more conventional economic policies that began in June and has slowly
begun to draw foreign investors back to Turkey’s markets. Finance minister
Mehmet Şimşek, who has led the economic turnaround efforts, said on Friday
evening that the programme “continues without interruption and with
determination”.
“Our
president has full support and confidence in our economic team and the
programme we are implementing,” said Şimşek on Friday night.
The central
bank under Erkan has raised interest rates from 8.5 per cent in June to 45 per
cent as the country has tried to quell a long-running inflation crisis.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who once called high interest rates the
“mother and father of all evil”, has appeared to back the rate rises. However,
investors have been concerned since the overhaul began after Erdoğan’s election
in May that he might abruptly change course. Turkey’s strongman leader has
previously sacked central bank governors for raising interest rates.
Erkan has
faced significant criticism in some newspapers in recent weeks over claims that
her father has been given an unofficial role at the central bank. She
strenuously denies the allegations.
The Financial Times
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