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Turkey's lira sinks to all-time low against US dollar

Xinhua, February 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Turkish lira fell to a new all-time low of 2.5010 against U.S. dollar on Monday amid expectations on the U.S. Federal Reserve to raise interest rates by mid-year, private Dogan news agency reported.

The currency has already hit a series of historic lows during the past four weeks, according to statements by government officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who urged the Central Bank of Turkey to cut interest rates.

The Turkish Lira has lost more than 3 percent against the U.S. dollar since mid-December.

The Central Bank of Turkey cut benchmark one-week repo rate from 8.25 percent to 7.75 percent on Jan. 20, which the government officials found unsatisfactory.

There has been rift between the Central Bank Governor Erdem Basci and President Erdogan, who wanted bigger cuts in order to stimulate the economy.

The bank's decision drew a rebuff by the Turkish president who accused the body of not being proactive in cutting interest rates and manage currency volatility.

At the same time, inflation rate in Turkey slowed from 8.17 percent a month earlier to 7.24 percent in January, reported by the statistics office on Feb. 3. Endit