Lira Eases Against Dollar

Turkey’s lira weakened against the dollar on Monday as investors weighed up the impact of last week’s massive rate hike and turned their attention to this week’s announcement of the government’s medium-term economic plan, Reuters reported. At 0555 GMT, the lira stood at 6.19 against the US currency, weakening from a close of 6.172 on Friday, a day after the central bank raised its benchmark rate by 625 basis points. The currency recovered 4% against the dollar last week but was still 39% weaker this year in a slide driven by concerns about President Tayyip Erdogan’s influence over monetary policy and a diplomatic row with the United States. Meanwhile, Turkey’s central bank announced effective in October it is raising the maximum interest rate credit card lenders can charge. The rate is going to 2.5% for Turkish lira and 1.80% for foreign exchange transactions. For overdue payments, the interest rate will rise to a maximum of 2.75% for Turkish lira charges and 2.30% for foreign currency ones.