Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dismissed Finance Minister Lutfi Elvan and appointed Nureddin Nebati as his successor. Nebati had posted a controversial tweet on his Twitter account, suggesting that Elvan's dismissal and his own appointment were imminent. This comes at a time when the Turkish lira has plummeted to its lowest ever level at 14 against the dollar, after Erdoğan reiterated his defense of a new economic model based on lowering interest rates, despite an inflation rate nearing 20 percent.
Erdoğan ordered an investigation into potential currency manipulation after the lira's dramatic decline to record lows against the dollar. Anadolu Agency reported that Erdoğan tasked the governmental oversight board, an auditing body that reports to the presidency, with identifying institutions that purchased large amounts of foreign currency and determining whether any manipulation occurred.
The lira dropped to record low levels after Erdoğan vowed to adhere to a policy of lowering interest rates. The currency has lost more than 45 percent of its value this year, with nearly half of those losses occurring in the past two weeks. During this speech, Erdoğan stated that his country is engaged in an "economic independence war" and will not succumb to pressures to change course. He added, "We are witnessing manipulation around the exchange rate, interest rates, and rising prices by those who want to exclude our country from the equation."
