Turkish Finance Minister resigns due to health problems
The Turkish Minister of Finance and Treasury, Berat Albayrak, has left his post on November 8 due to health problems, according to a statement of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey. In the note, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, accepted the resignation of his son-in-law Albayrak and announced the name of his replacement Lotfi Alwan, who was the deputy prime minister.
Through his Instagram account, Albayrak published that after this resignation he will devote more time to his family. "I have decided not to continue with my ministerial duty which I have been carrying out for five years. From now on, I will spend more time with my father, mother, wife and children, who have always supported me during this time," he said in his Instagram account.
Erdogan accepted on Sunday the resignation of the Minister of Finance, his son-in-law Berat Albayrak. This resignation also came a day after the governor of the Central Bank, Murat Uysal, was removed from office, as a way of starting a new economic and monetary strategy by Erdogan's administration.
Erdogan accepts resignation of Finance Minister, his son-in-law Berat Albayrak The new Central Bank Governor, Naci Agbal, is working on replacing the members of the Monetary Policy Committee close to Albayrak, according to sources close to the issue cited by Bloomberg.
"At a time when developed countries are experiencing serious economic challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic (...) our country has suffered the least possible damage at a critical time thanks to Minister Albayrak," the president praised.
Erdogan accepts the resignation of Finance Minister, his son-in-law Berat Albayrak Following the announcement of the country's new economic leader, the lira has recovered, with a 6.5% increase against the dollar, after the fall it has suffered. Since Albayrak took office in 2018, the national currency has lost more than 40 % of its value.
According to Arab News, Albayrak's resignation could be linked to a dispute within Erdogan's inner circle, as the disagreements between Albaytak and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu are well known.
This new line of action and the various changes made by Erdogan at the head of the Ministry of the Economy and the Central Bank have caused the Turkish lira to rebound with increases of up to 5% against the euro, to 9.5 units per euro.
The Turkish lira has thus abandoned the historical lows recorded last Friday, when it broke through the ten-unit-per-euro barrier for the first time. At the end of 2019, 6.66 lire were sufficient to obtain one euro, which represents a fall of more than 33% since the beginning of 2020.
The elections in the United States may also be an additional pressure factor for the Turkish currency, which has collapsed the most in 2020. The markets discounted that a clear victory by Joe Biden would increase the risk of a deterioration in relations between Washington and Ankara. A few weeks ago, Bloomberg called the Turkish lira "the worst currency in the world", as it reached an all-time low in October.
The position of the White House towards Turkey could play a key role in a context where the markets fear sanctions from the West against Tayyip Erdogan's regime.
Last week it became known that annual inflation for October shot up to 11.89%, a level that puts pressure on interest rates set at 10.25% in order to alleviate the collapse of the lira.