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Lira Rebounds as Erdogan Aide Denies Story on Central Banker

Lira Rebounds as Erdogan Aide Denies Story on Central Banker

The Turkish lira rebounded from a record low against the dollar as a top official refuted a media report that said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is “cooling” on central bank Governor Sahap Kavcioglu.

“That even major organizations spread such lies is deeply concerning,” Erdogan’s communications director Fahrettin Altun said in a tweet, attaching an image of a Reuters story on the central bank governor and a separate Foreign Policy article calling Turkey’s defense minister Erdogan’s heir-apparent. Altun called the stories “fake news.”

Erdogan was frustrated that the central bank under Kavcioglu delayed an interest-rate cut until last month, Reuters said Friday, citing three sources familiar with the matter. 

The lira weakened by as much as 1.1% to 8.9728 to the dollar after the report, but later pared losses to trade down 0.4%. The benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 Index of Turkish stocks also went back to gains after brief swings.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.