Wednesday, 19 August 2015 18:54
ISTANBUL: Turkey’s lira plumbed a new record low against the US dollar on Wednesday, after a central bank presentation failed to assuage investors concerns about its appetite to defy political pressure and lift rates.
A day after the bank kept its rates steady on Tuesday, it told economists in a presentation that it had started to raise its policy rate in line with the US Federal Reserve’s hikes, reflecting the impact of political pressure from Ankara.
“Generally speaking, the hikes in the policy rate in the coming months will be tied to Fed rate hikes.
Hence the steps taken by the central bank in the coming period will be determined by the Fed,” Muammer Komurcuoglu, an economist at Is Invest, who attended the meeting, told Reuters.
The lira fell to 2.9070 to the dollar, a new record.
