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Turkish lira faces a rocky new year as inflation hits 19-year high and could go higher
Turkey’s lira tumbled again overnight over rising inflation fears, with markets showing little faith in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s promises that the worst of the country’s economic turmoil is over. Inflation in the country of 84 million hit a 19-year high of 36.1% for December, the highest in all of Erdogan’s tenure as president. And economists warn it could still go up, thanks to Erdogan’s unorthodox policy of cutting and refusing to raise interest rates, a standard tool used by monetary policymakers to cool down rising costs and strengthen local currencies. The lira was trading at 13.36 to the ... (full story)