Hafiz Gage Erkan, the US bank executive turned governor of Turkey’s central bank

The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan named on Friday Hafize Gage Erkan, executive of the banking sector of USAgovernor of Turkey’s central bank, as the institution is expected to make a 180-degree turn after years of interest rate-cutting policy amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Mrs. Erkanwho was First Republic Bank’s co-managing director and executive officer Goldman Sachs, takes over immediately after the head of state’s re-election on May 28 and days after Mr. Erdogan hinted that he would adopt a less unorthodox monetary and fiscal policy.

Her new commanding officer central bankthe fifth in four years, replaces Sahab Cavcioglu, who has spearheaded Mr Erdogan’s rate-cutting policy despite the lira’s historic fall in 2021 and the take-off of inflation, which topped 85% last year to 24-year high.

The appointment, which was announced through the Turkish official Government Gazette, was accompanied by the appointment of Mr. Cavzioglou as the head of the Turkish banking supervisory body (BDDK). Turkey’s central bank’s key interest rate has been cut to 8.5% from 19% in 2021, with so-called real rates deep in negative territory and authorities managing the lira’s exchange rate with dozens of credit and currency adjustments .

In… tartar the Turkish lira

THE Turkish pound record news historic lows this week; after the announcement of the appointment of Hafiz Gage Erkan, it remained marginally above the nadir of its exchange rate against the dollar.

Mrs. Erkan’s intentions are not at all clear. She has no experience in monetary policy, having spent most of her career on Wall Street and in the boardrooms of US banks after studying at Princeton. She worked at First Republic from 2014 to 2021, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Earlier this year, this bank became the largest went bankrupt in the US after 2008, when it was taken over by regulators before being sold to JPMorgan.