Turkish Lira Crashes by 5%, Exchange Rate Revised for Import and Export

Turkey’s currency tumbled on Monday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fired the head of the central bank, who had been in the job just four months and had pursued policies aimed at taming inflation. The Turkish lira plunged 7 percent against the U.S. dollar.

The removal of Turkey’s central bank chief, Naci Agbal, signals a return to the unorthodox policies that Mr. Erdogan has long favored, such as cutting interest rates to lower inflation, but which most economists regard as counterproductive. Mr. Erdogan has repeatedly meddled in the central bank’s activities and over the years traders have dumped the lira.

Since his appointment in November, Mr. Agbal has raised the central bank’s benchmark interest rate from 10.25 percent to 19 percent in an effort to slow the overheating economy, control inflation and lure in foreign investment. He had succeeded in pulling the lira up from its record low. The most recent increase in the benchmark rate was on Thursday and he was fired on Friday.

The annual inflation rate was officially 15.6 percent in February but is probably much higher.

The new central bank chief, Sahap Kavcioglu, a university professor and former member of Turkey’s National Assembly, said in a statement that he would continue to fight inflation. But on Monday, the lira was trading at about 7.77 to the dollar, compared with 7.22 on Friday. The plunge in value was a sign that currency traders expect him to bow to pressure from Mr. Erdogan to cut rates, worsening the inflation problem and pushing the country of 82 million people closer to economic collapse.

“We have abandoned our cautiously optimistic view on the lira,”Piotr Matys, a strategist at Rabobank wrote in a note. Mr. Kavcioglu’s comments suggest he is clearly in favor of lower interest rates to stimulate growth, he added.

[Notification No. 32/2021 - Customs (N.T.) dated 24th March, 2021]

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs hereby makes the following amendment in the Notification of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs No.31/2021-CUSTOMS (N.T.), dated 18th March, 2021 with effect from 25th March, 2021, namely: -

In the SCHEDULE-I of the said Notification, for serial No. 18 and the entries relating thereto, the following shall be substituted, namely: -

SCHEDULE-I
Sl.No.	Foreign Currency	Rate of exchange of one unit of foreign currency equivalent to Indian rupees
(1)	(2)	(3)
		(a)	(b)
		(For Imported Goods)	(For Exported Goods)
18.	Turkish Lira	9.45	8.85

[F.No.468/01/2021-Cus.V]