(Bloomberg) -- Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his new economic team's priority will be to cut inflation to single digits from its current level of around 40%.
“Now that the elections are over, our hand is stronger,” Erdogan said in a televised speech to a group of Turkish exporters on Saturday. “We will cut inflation to single digits, that will be the priority of the new economy team.”
He also said the economy is recovering strongly after two devastating earthquakes in February.
Turkish Businesses Urge Simsek to Unveil Credible Economic Plan
Erdogan's fixation with ultra-low interest rates has accelerated inflation and led to massive outflows from foreign bond and stock investors. The central bank has depleted most of its reserves in an effort to keep the lira stable. The currency is still down more than 20% this year against the dollar.
Investors are waiting to see if the new Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek and central bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan will end Erdogan's unorthodox economic policies, which includes back-door interventions to prop up the lira and keeping interest rates well below the level of inflation.
The central bank will hold its interest rate setting meeting on June 22.
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