(Bloomberg) -- Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met central bank Governor Murat Cetinkaya on Wednesday following an earlier briefing where a larger group of policy makers were present, according to three officials with knowledge of the matter.
The officials provided no information about the substance of the one-on-one meeting, but it came as Turkey's lira and bonds weakened to near-record lows. Erdogan told Bloomberg earlier this week in London that he intends to take more responsibility for monetary policy if he wins next month's presidential election, even as investors voiced concerns about the central bank's independence.
Cetinkaya first attended a meeting with Erdogan and Mahmoud Vaezi, a special envoy for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, at the governing AK party's headquarters in Ankara, the three officials said. After Vaezi left, the central bank chief stayed at party headquarters for an additional meeting with Erdogan, the officials said on condition of anonymity because the meeting wasn't made public.
The lira weakened 0.6 percent to 4.4407 per dollar at 2:35 p.m. in Istanbul, extending the year's losses to 14.5 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
--With assistance from Selcan Hacaoglu
To contact the reporters on this story: Firat Kozok in Ankara at fkozok@bloomberg.net, Onur Ant in Ankara at oant@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Benjamin Harvey at bharvey11@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark Williams
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
