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Turkey’s central bank governor, Hafizeh Gey Erkan, who has overseen a campaign to raise massive interest rates, has resigned just months after taking office after decrying weeks of slander against him in local media.
According to the Turkish Official Gazette, Erkan, who was appointed as the bank’s first female president in June, will be succeeded by Fatih Karahan, the bank’s deputy president. Karahan, a former Federal Reserve economist, will be President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s sixth central bank chief in five years.
“Recently, a key assassination campaign has been organized against me,” Erkann said on Friday night, adding that he was stepping down “to protect my family and, more importantly, my innocent child… and to avoid being further affected by this process.”
Erkan, a former Goldman Sachs banker, is one of the central figures in the overhaul of economic policy that began after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s re-election in May. It has been widely praised by investors.
The central bank under his watch has raised interest rates to 45% from 8.5% in June to overcome a protracted inflation crisis, reversing a long-standing policy of keeping borrowing costs ultra-low. Erdogan, who once called high interest rates the “father and mother of all evil,” appears to support the hikes.
Mr. Erkann has come under heavy criticism in some newspapers in recent weeks over claims that his father was given an unofficial position at the central bank and fired employees. She strongly denied the accusations, calling them “baseless” and “totally unacceptable.”
As recently as last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that anonymous attackers were “conducting a campaign to destroy the climate of trust and stability that has been achieved with great difficulty in the economic world through unwarranted rumors.” seems to be expressing support for
Mr. Callahan’s promotion to central bank chief, after becoming deputy governor in July 2023, helps allay concerns that the president will abruptly change the direction of economic policy, as he has in the past. right.
“I know him as . He added that earlier in his career, he worked as an economist at the New York Fed for nearly 10 years.
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Finance Minister Mehmet Šimşek, a former Merrill Lynch bond strategist who has led economic recovery efforts since they began in June, said Friday night that the program “continues with determination and without interruption.” ” he said.
“The President has full support and confidence in the economic team and the programs we are implementing,” he added.
“We don’t expect any changes,” said Emre Peker, European director at Risk Advisory Eurasia Group. [in policy] Through the “local elections” scheduled for late March,
Additional reporting by Funja Güler in Ankara
