Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law and newly appointed Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak attends a presser at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Turkey July 9, 2018. Reuters/Umit Bektas
Ankara: Turkey’s incoming finance minister, the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, yesterday vowed to bring inflation down to single digits as he seeks to win over investors spooked by his appointment.
Berat Albayrak (pictured), the husband of Erdogan’s elder daughter Esra, was named by the president as treasury and finance minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle for his new term.
Albayrak’s surprise switch from the energy ministry spooked financial markets, who were also unhappy to see there was no room for outgoing deputy prime minister Mehmet Simsek, the government’s pointman on the economy.
“In the coming period we will work intensively to bring inflation down to single digits,” Albayrak said at a handover ceremony with Simsek, whose post no longer exists in the new government.
Inflation in Turkey surged to over 15 percent in June for the first time in almost one-and-a-half decades, raising new fears that the economy is overheating. Albayrak promised a “more successful performance” in the coming period based on “independent institutions”.
Erdogan has repeatedly called on the central bank, nominally independent, to cut interest rates, raising concerns over its credibility.
Albayrak vowed that Turkey would set “an example for the world” in financial and budgetary discipline and also vowed “a vigorous and energetic monetary policy”, without giving further details. “Turkey will write a new story,” he promised.
The lira had on Monday lost over 3.5 percent in value against the dollar after Albayrak’s appointment, with markets also rattled by changes to the president’s relationship with the central bank under the new system that dispenses with the office of prime minister.
The lira yesterday gained back 0.5 percent against the dollar to trade at 4.7 to the greenback.
