Turkish lira weakens to six-month low

Turkiye's national currency weakened on Monday to 16.6 Turkish liras against one US dollar, which was a record level since December last year, Report informs, citing TASS.

The lira closed last week at 16.44 per dollar, the newspaper recalls.

According to analysts, since the beginning of the year, the Turkish lira has depreciated by more than 20%, and this trend will continue if local authorities do not revise their policy regarding interest rates. Since the end of last year, the Central Bank of Turkiye has kept the rate unchanged at weekly repo auctions at 14%, and according to Turkish Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati, there are no plans to change it yet.

The minister, quoted by the Milliyet newspaper on Monday, also said that the inflation rate in Turkiye is expected to reach 48-49% by the end of this year. According to official data, the inflation rate in the country amounted to 73.5%, while, according to unofficial data, it exceeded 160%.