Turkish lira: Sacking of central bank chief could spark currency crisis

Turkish lira: Sacking of central bank chief could spark currency crisis

The surprise sacking of Turkey's central bank chief shortly after he increased interest rates could result in the lira plunging by 15 per cent when markets reopen on Monday, a leading financial expert said.

At the end of last week, the lira rallied against the US dollar after Turkey's central bank abruptly increased rates from 17 per cent to 19 per cent in order to slow rampant inflation.

But hours after markets closed on Friday, Naci Agbal was dismissed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Mr Agbal had established his independence from the president and won market praise by raising interest rates by 8.75 percentage