Turkish Officials Said Meeting for Second Day on Economy, Lira

(Bloomberg) -- A day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan convened a surprise meeting of Turkey’s top economic officials, Central Bank Governor Murat Cetinkaya is said to be holding a meeting with regulators and the Treasury.

The officials will discuss exchange and interest rates, to be followed by a cost analysis of the government’s pre-election stimulus and incentive packages, according to a senior government official, who asked not to be named because the meeting hasn’t been announced. The lira extended gains on the news, rising 1.1 percent to 4.2401 per dollar as of 2:45 p.m. in Ankara.

In attendance will be Cetinkaya, Capital Markets Board chief Ali Fuat Taskesenlioglu, the banking regulator chief Mehmet Ali Akben, and Treasury Undersecretary Osman Celik, the person said. News of the previous day’s meeting sparked a rally of as much as 1.8 percent in the lira, after it had earlier tumbled to new record lows against the dollar and euro.

The officials will discuss routine technical issues and exchange ideas, and the meeting shouldn’t be expected to yield any policy announcements, according to another government official, who also asked not to be named.

In a statement following Wednesday’s gathering at the presidential palace, Erdogan’s office said that measures would be taken to tackle inflation and address pressure on the lira, without providing specifics. It ruled out any actions that would be inconsistent with open-market principles or the floating exchange-rate regime.

The statement also said Turkey would remain committed to a “growth-oriented" economic policy.

To contact the reporter on this story: Firat Kozok in Ankara at fkozok@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Benjamin Harvey at bharvey11@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams

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