The Turkish lira fell by approximately 0.8% against the dollar, reaching its lowest levels this year on Thursday, a market holiday in Turkey, after being pressured by inflation figures from the United States. The lira dropped to as low as 8.4910 against the dollar, the lowest level since November. As of 07:15 GMT, it stood at 8.473 dollars. Data released on Wednesday showed that U.S. consumer prices surged in April at the fastest pace in nearly 12 years, boosting the dollar against emerging market currencies. Additionally, the Turkish central bank reported last Tuesday that the country's current account deficit widened to $3.329 billion in March, which is lower than the $3.8 billion deficit that Reuters had forecast. The current account deficit for February was $2.585 billion. The current account recorded a deficit of $36.724 billion in 2020.
On the other hand, data showed that industrial production in Turkey surged by 16.6% year-on-year in March, significantly surpassing expectations and marking the tenth consecutive month of growth following a sharp slowdown last year due to the onset of measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic. A Reuters poll had predicted a production growth of 12.5% year-on-year.
