President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan replaced two deputy treasury and finance ministers early Thursday, in the latest reshuffle in the economic management.
Şakir Ercan Gül and Mehmet Hamdi Yıldırım have been removed from their posts, a decree in the Official Gazette said.
They were replaced by Mahmut Gürcan and Yunus Elitaş, the decree said.
The reshuffle comes nearly two weeks after Nureddin Nebati was appointed treasury and finance minister after his predecessor Lütfi Elvan stepped down.
The appointments come as Turkey is pursuing a new economic model based on lower interest rates, a policy direction Erdoğan says will boost production, jobs, exports and growth.
Having served three years as a deputy finance minister before assuming his new job, Nebati has praised Erdoğan’s drive to bring down borrowing costs and said that Turkey had sought for years to implement a policy of low rates but had faced strong opposition.
He has said the current-account deficit was the economy’s biggest problem and that rates should be cut against supply-side inflation.
Meanwhile, senior officials in charge of public financing and economic programs and research at the ministry were also removed from their posts on Thursday.
The announcements came ahead of the central bank’s policy-setting meeting. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) cut its key rate by 100 basis points to 14% on Thursday.
It has now cut its key rate by 500 basis points since September. On the other hand, annual inflation accelerated to 21.31% last month, the highest reading since November 2018, with staples such as food and gas prices recently jumping.
According to the central bank, inflation pressure is temporary and necessary to expand economic growth and balance the current account.
The CBRT has also intervened in the forex market four times in the last two weeks amid high volatility in the exchange rates, selling dollars to prop up the Turkish lira.
