Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan named three deputy governors to the central bank, the country’s official gazette said on Friday, a day after the bank vowed to continue gradual monetary tightening and raised its end-2023 inflation forecast.
Osman Cevdet Akcay, Fatih Karahan and Hatice Karahan were appointed as deputy central bank governors, replacing three predecessors, the statement showed.
Fatih Karahan, who held economist positions in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for almost a decade, most recently worked for Amazon as a principal economist, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Akcay is an economist who used to work at Turkish lender Yapi Kredi and Hatice Karahan is an academic and a chief economic adviser to the president.
Tim Ash, a strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, said the appointment of the three represented a “180 degree turn” by Erdogan. “Cevdet is a superb economist and clear thinker. Hatice is excellent as well – a rational, thinker. Fatih Karahan, ex-NY Fed. Superb hires,” Ash said.
The lira stood at 26.9560 against the dollar on Friday morning, unchanged from Thursday’s closing level. It has lost 30 per cent of its value this year.—Gulf News
