The Turkish lira falls by 4%, approaching historical lows

The Turkish lira fell more than 4% against the dollar in weak and volatile trade on Monday, approaching the all-time lows it hit last week when President Recep Tayyip Erdogan affirmed his adherence to his interest rate cut policy despite the widespread criticism.

The lira fell at 12.85 to 06:13 GMT, from closing at 12.25 on Friday. Liquidity was low with the gap between buy and sell prices widening, as was the case in last week’s trading.

On Tuesday, the Turkish currency hit an all-time low of 13.45 after Erdogan defended the central bank’s move to cut the interest rate to 15%, despite the inflation rate hitting 20%.