After firing Turkey’s cenbank chief, Erdogan also removes deputy

President Tayyip Erdogan removed a central bank deputy governor, Murat Cetinkaya, from his post on Tuesday, 10 days after he fired the bank’s hawkish governor in a shock move that sent the lira down some 13%. Banker Mustafa Duman was appointed to the post, according to the Official Gazette. He has held executive positions at Morgan Stanley Securities and also had treasury, risk and auditing jobs in the financial sector, the central bank said.

The decree gave no reason for the change. Cetinkaya, a former CEO of the Istanbul stock exchange, had served since mid-2019 at the central bank, which has seen rapid turnover in its upper ranks including four governors in two years. The lira weakened in response and touched 8.29 against the U.S. dollar, before firming to 8.26 by 0652 GMT. On March 20, Erdogan ousted Naci Agbal, an orthodox governor who hiked the key interest rate to 19% to address double-digit inflation. Sahap Kavcioglu, who has supported the president’s view that high rates cause inflation, was named the new chief.

The move led to market turmoil amid concerns Turkey may return to unorthodox economic policies and rapid rate cuts. Inflation stood at 15.6% in February.

After firing Turkey’s cenbank chief, Erdogan also removes deputy, Reuters, Mar 30