STORY: Turkish lira falls to new low against greenback
DATELINE: Aug. 8, 2023
LENGTH: 00:01:31
LOCATION: ISTANBUL, Türkiye
CATEGORY: ECONOMY
 
SHOTLIST:
1. various of Istanbul city in Türkiye
2. various of exchange office in Istanbul
3. various of Türkiye's central bank
4. SOUNDBITE (Turkish): MURAT TUFAN, Analyst with the Ekoturk broadcaster
 
STORYLINE:
 
The Turkish currency hit a fresh low against the U.S. dollar on Monday, trading over 27 liras per dollar.
 
After seeing 27.32 in the early morning against the greenback, the lira stood at around 27 in the afternoon, losing about 30 percent of its value since the beginning of this year.
 
The currency tested over 30 thresholds against the euro in the morning and later dropped to 29.68.
 
Türkiye's central bank raised the policy rate from 8.5 percent to 15 percent in June and further to 17.5 percent in July.
 
However, markets expect more aggressive interest rate hikes to better cope with the devaluation of the currency and the rising inflation rate. The country's annual inflation rate stood at 47.83 percent in July, marking the first increase since October last year.
 
According to Murat Tufan, an analyst with the Ekoturk broadcaster, the dollar increasing its value against the lira was an expected scenario after Türkiye's presidential and general elections in May.
 
Tufan told Xinhua that the new Turkish government had removed the pressure on the dollar to curb the rising inflation and started to increase the interest rates.
 
SOUNDBITE (Turkish): MURAT TUFAN, Analyst with the Ekoturk broadcaster
"But there is now severe damage to the confidence in the Turkish lira. If the central bank manages to reduce the inflation decisively in a sincere way, after a year or maybe two years, Turkish citizens will perhaps trust the Turkish lira again. But under the current conjuncture, they keep selling the lira."
 
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Istanbul, Türkiye.
(XHTV)