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Turkey central bank silent as lira 'freefall' intensifies
 Turkey's embattled lira on Wednesday lost over three percent in value to hit new historic lows against the US dollar, but there was no word from the central bank of any emergency action to buttress the currency.Following sharp losses on Tuesday, the lira continued to underperform all other emerging market currencies, after suffering a hammering in Asian trade overnight when Japanese investors sold Turkish assets. It lost 3.3 percent against the dollar to trade at 4.82, only slightly paring losses after earlier for the first time ever testing the 5.0 ceiling by hitting 4.92 lira to the dollar. Over the last month alone, the lira has lost over 18 percent in value against the dollar as fears grow over the health of the Turkish economy which is dogged by double-digit inflation despite high growth. Its performance has been even worse than the Argentine peso which has also suffered severe turbulence over the last month. The sharp fall in the currency's value has come at a hugely sensitive time as Turkey heads to June 24 presidential and parliamentary elections where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking a new mandate and a thumping parliamentary majority. Posted by: Frank G 2018-05-23 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=515135 |