Turkey’s lira fell, partly reversing the biggest rally in two years on Monday, after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appointed party insider Lütfi Elvan to replace his son-in-law Berat Albayrak as Treasury and Finance Minister.
The lira fell by 2.6 percent to 8.2761 per dollar in volatile trading in Istanbul on Tuesday morning. It had gained almost 5 percent on Monday, when Albayrak’s resignation and Erdoğan’s weekend replacement of the country’s central bank chief raised expectations among investors for tighter monetary and fiscal policy.
Elvan, 58, is an ex-deputy prime minister who has been serving as chairman of parliament’s planning and budget commission. He became a member of parliament in 2007 after working at institutions including state-run Etibank and the State Planning Organisation. Turkey’s lira has lost almost 30 percent of its value against the dollar this year after lax monetary policy and a government-sponsored borrowing boom by businesses and consumers raised concerns for economic and financial stability.
Albayrak resigned from his post at the weekend after Erdoğan sacked Central Bank Governor Murat Uysal and replaced him with Naci Ağbal, a former finance minister who was serving as head of a presidential strategy and budget committee.
Erdoğan announced Elvan’s appointment in a presidential decree early on Tuesday, saying he had accepted Albayrak’s resignation request. Elvan is an Erdoğan loyalist who was appointed by the president as minister of transport, maritime and communication in December 2013 following a corruption scandal that forced a cabinet reshuffle. He served as deputy prime minister for six months between November 2015 and May 2016 and then headed the Ministry of Development until July 2018.
“He’s unlikely to stand up to President Erdoğan to correct policy errors, lacking a personal political base or close relations with financial institutions,” said Atilla Yeşilada, an Istanbul-based consultant on the Turkish economy and politics, on his website P.A. Turkey.
Elvan earned a Masters degree in mining engineering from the University of Leeds in 1986 and a Masters degree in economics from the University of Delaware in 1995.
Source: Ahval