Erdogan sacks Turkish central bank governor

Murat Cetinkaya’s removal a year before his term is up raises questions over independence

 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sacked Turkey’s central bank governor, raising fresh concerns about the independence of the rate-setter at a fragile time for the Turkish economy.

Mr Erdogan used a presidential decree, published in the early hours of Saturday, to remove Murat Cetinkaya from his job a year before the end of his four-year term.

He will be replaced by Murat Uysal, an economist who spent much of his career at the state-owned Halkbank before becoming one of the central bank’s deputy governors.

The move by the Turkish president, who had recently complained that high interest rates were “hurting” the country, was announced three weeks before a monetary policy meeting, when the bank is expected to begin a cycle of easing.

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