SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Turkish lira dropped to an all-time low beyond 15 against the dollar on Thursday ahead of another expected interest rate cut by the central bank.
The lira weakened as much as 29% to 15.25 and was trading at 15.22 at 0751 GMT.
The U.S. currency has more than doubled in value against the lira so far this year, rattling Turkey’s big emerging market economy, according to Reuters.
The Turkish central bank is expected to cut its key rate by 100 basis points to 14% at its policy-setting meeting later in the day, Reuters reported.
“An experiment is being conducted and Erdogan is in charge of this experiment. Interest rates will be brought down as far as they can,” Reuters quoted economist Guldem Atabay at Istanbul Analytics as saying.
The central bank of Turkey has cut its key rate by 400 basis points to 15% since September under Erdogan’s plan to prioritize exports and lending, even though economists and opposition lawmakers have widely criticized the policy as reckless.
