Turkey's Erdogan appoints three deputy governors to central bank
Business
Bank vowed to continue gradual monetary tightening and raised its end-2023 inflation forecast
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish's President Tayyip Erdogan named three deputy governors to the central bank, the country's official gazette said early on Friday, hours after the bank vowed to continue gradual monetary tightening and raised its end-2023 inflation forecast.
Osman Cevdet Akcay, Fatih Karahan and Hatice Karahan were appointed as deputy central bank governors, according to a decision published in the official gazette.
Fatih Karahan, who held economist positions in Federal Reserve Bank of New York for almost a decade, most recently worked for Amazon as a principal economist, according to his Linkedin profile.
Akcay is an economist who used to work at Turkish lender Yapi Kredi and Hatice Karahan is an academic and a chief economic adviser to the president.
The move came after the central bank, under governor Hafize Gaye Erkan, reversed course and tighten policy by 900 basis points in the last two months following years of rate cuts and a simmering cost-of-living crisis.
On Thursday, Turkey's central bank raised its end-2023 inflation forecast sharply to 58% and said it would continue monetary tightening. Annual inflation stood at 38.2% in June.
In what is seen as a pivot to economic orthodoxy, Erdogan appointed Mehmet Simsek as finance minister and Erkan as central bank governor shortly after his re-election in May.
Erdogan removed previous deputies Emrah Sener, Taha Cakmak and Mustafa Duman, the decision also said.
