The Turkish Lira is in a free fall due to the central bank’s decision to adhere to the dictates of Turkish Recep Erdogan, German newspaper Handelsblatt claims.

“The price of the Turkish lira is breaking one negative record after another. For the first time in history, today (April 9) the euro is worth more than five liras. The Turkish currency also recorded a new negative record in relation to the US dollar”, the paper writes.

Experts attribute the fall mainly to the high current account deficit and low real interest rates.

Although economic growth has strengthened, the Turkish central bank does not offset the low real interest rate with significant interest rate hikes but is adopting requests from the Turkish President. Pundits warn of the economy “burning out”, as cheap loans outweigh demand and may lead to stagnation or even recession, the German newspaper notes.