Erdoğan replaces finance minister amid currency crisis

Elvan was the only one who didn't applaud Erdoğan's speech endorsing lower interest rates last month. (Photo: AA/File)

Minister of Finance and Treasury Lütfi Elvan has resigned from his post and has been replaced with his deputy, Nureddin Nebati, according to a presidential decision published in the Official Gazette today (December 2).

Recently, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has implicitly criticized Elvan, who reportedly opposed his lower interest rate policy, which led to a plunge in the lira.

In a speech on November 17, the president said, "No offense to our friends whom we walked together in this struggle, but I can't be together with those who defend interest rates," in remarks targeting Elvan.

Elvan replaced Berat Albayrak, the son-in-law of the president, as the finance minister last November. His appointment was perceived as a return to conventional economic policies. 

This didn't last long as the Central Bank stopped interest rate hikes after March and had kept the rates constant until September.

As the Central Bank cut the policy rates for three months in a row starting from September, the Turkish lira has lost 40 percent in value since September and lost 29 percent in value in November alone.

Erdoğan says Turkey will never return to "high interest rate-low foreign exchange rate policies" and continue to cut interest rates in what he calls an "economic independence war." 

In one of his rare public appearances after his resignation, Albayrak met Nebati in August, daily Milli Gazete had revealed. (VK)