Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has shaken up the central bank’s policy-setting board with the appointment of three new deputy governors, including a former New York Federal Reserve official, as part of a shift to a more mainstream economic approach.
The move comes a day after central bank governor Hafize Gaye Erkan, a former Wall Street banker who was appointed in June, acknowledged that Turkey’s economy was overheating and that inflation would probably reach almost 60 per cent by year-end, from 38 per cent last month.
Erdoğan has overhauled the country’s economic management following his re-election in May after years of unorthodox policies. These included a huge pre-election spending spree that is blamed for stoking runaway inflation, depleting the country’s foreign policy war chest and threatening to set off a balance of payments crisis.