For some time now, the lira has been suffering from the monetary policy of the Turkish central bank. Now the Turkish currency has hit a record low.
Frankfurt / Main (dpa) - The decline in the Turkish currency continues. After the Turkish lira had already hit lows last week, the exchange rate marked record lows in trading with the US dollar and the euro at the beginning of the week.
On the night of Monday, 7,4084 lira were paid for one dollar, more than ever before. Around the same time, a peak value of 8.7217 lira was paid for one euro.
Market observers explained the current weakness of the Turkish currency with new tensions between Turkey and Greece in the dispute over natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean. A Turkish research ship is expected to search for natural gas south of the Greek island of Megisti (Kasteloriso) in the coming days.
In response, Athens announced a special meeting of the Government Council on External Affairs and Defense (KYSEA), chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Numerous ships of the navy of the two NATO countries are in this region, according to sources of the government in Athens.
In response to the recent fall in the lira, Turkey limited its lending to companies on Monday. Foreign exchange experts see little prospect of success in the measures: "No matter which cocktail of banking system cosmetics or partial capital controls is mixed together - he will not be able to reverse the trend of the lira," said analyst Tatha Ghose from Commerzbank. In his opinion, stricter capital controls can at best cause a certain delay.
For some time now, the lira has been suffering from the monetary policy of the Turkish central bank. Despite comparatively high inflation with an annual rate of around 12 percent most recently, the central bank had lowered interest rates several times in order to get the economy going.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 200810-99-111197 / 3
