Dec. 2 (UPI) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a new finance minister on Thursday after the last man in the post resigned amid a steep decline in value of Turkey’s national currency.
Erdogan named Nureddin Nebati to the post as the successor to Lutfi Elvan, who was asked to resign after about a year in the job.
Since the start of 2021, the Turkish lira has lost about 40% of its value. About 13 liras are equal to the U.S. dollar.
Nebati has been a deputy minister for three years in Turkey’s treasury and finance ministry. He’s studied international relations and public administration and has shown support for Erdogan’s favored policy of low-interest rates to control inflation — a strategy that runs counter to what most economists believe.
Elvan resigned from the post after Turkey’s central bank announced a policy of intervening in currency markets to steady the lira.
Inflation in Turkey is presently running around 20%.