Turkey's embattled lira tumbled almost five percent in value on Thursday as the resignation of the deputy central bank governor intensified market concerns over the direction of monetary policy.
The lira has lost nearly 45 percent of its value since the start of the year against the dollar as investors took fright over a bitter row with the United States and anxiety over the direction of policy under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The lira was trading at 6.73 to the dollar, a loss of value of 4.5 percent on the day, with Turkish markets closed due to a holiday.
A particular concern has been the independence of the central bank which has not moved its headline interest rate higher despite the nose-diving currency and inflation that has surged to almost 16 percent.
Economists fear that Erdogan is pressuring the nominally independent institution not to raise rates in order to maintain growth, after he described interest rates as the "mother and father of all evil".
State-run news channel TRT Haber said that deputy central bank deputy governor Erkan Kilimci was stepping down from the job he has held for the last two years to a new post at the Development Bank of Turkey.
This should open the way for Erdogan to choose a figure of his own choosing as new deputy governor. Kilimci was one of four deputies to governor Murat Cetinkaya who sit on the monetary policy committee that sets interest rates.
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