Turkish Lira Tumbles to Record-Low After S&P Cuts Rating

(Bloomberg) -- Turkey’s lira fell to an all-time low after S&P Global Ratings downgraded the country’s debt on concern over the deterioration in the political environment after a failed coup last week.

The lira slumped to as low as 3.0834 against the dollar before trading 1.1 percent weaker at 3.0755 as of 7:02 p.m. in Istanbul.

S&P cut Turkey’s rating to BB from BB+ with a negative outlook, saying the move reflected the further fragmentation of the political landscape after last week’s attempted coup. This will undermine Turkey’s investment environment, growth and capital inflows into its externally leveraged economy, it said. S&P’s downgrade comes two days after Moody’s Investors Service put the sovereign on review for a possible downgrade.

The failed overthrow Friday has led President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to crack down on his opponents. About 60,000 people have been detained, suspended, fired or stripped of their professional accreditation since the failed coup, according to Bloomberg estimates.

--With assistance from Constantine Courcoulas To contact the reporter on this story: Tugce Ozsoy in Istanbul at tozsoy1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Samuel Potter at spotter33@bloomberg.net, Stephen Kirkland, Srinivasan Sivabalan