Turkey's lira dipped 0.4% against the dollar on Tuesday as concerns over rampant inflation were stoked by President Tayyip Erdogan's pledge to continue cutting interest rates.
In a Monday evening speech, Erdogan sought to downplay the surge in annual consumer prices, to 73% last month, as just one of several problems for the economy that should begin to ease early next year.
The lira slid as far as 16.669 to the dollar from a close of 16.58 on Monday. It has weakened 21% this year, on top of a 44% slide in 2021, when it was hit by a series of unorthodox interest rate cuts made despite the high inflation.
Speaking after a cabinet meeting, Erdogan said Turkey will not raise interest rates but rather continue cutting them in the face of high living costs.
He also redoubled his commitment to boosting production, exports and employment with the unorthodox low-rates policy and promised a current account surplus that will eventually steady the currency and cool inflation.
Separately, the central bank said it sold $1.82 billion in foreign currencies last month to state enterprises, primarily energy-importer Botas.
