Turkish PM Davuto?lu holds hasty meeting with Central Bank head on return from New York

Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has held meetings with the chiefs of key monetary and financial institutions, including the Central Bank governor, shortly after returning from New York where he had sought to assure investors spooked by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an?s recent tirades against the Central Bank.

Upon his arrival earlier in the evening of March 7, Davuto?lu summoned Central Bank Governor Erdem Ba?ç?, Capital Markets Board (SPK) head Vahdettin Erta?, and Treasury Acting Undersecretary Cavit Da?da?, for separate meetings at the Prime Ministry office, sources from the office told state-run Anadolu Agency. He was accompanied by Babacan.

Last week, Davuto?lu, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Finance Minister Mehmet ?im?ek, met fund managers and bankers in New York in an attempt to allay concerns about the Turkish Central Bank?s independence, fuelled by President Erdo?an?s harsh criticism of the Bank and its interest rate policies.

The Turkish lira hit a record low of 2.647 to the dollar on March 6 after a week of losses, weighed on by demands from Erdo?an that the Central Bank should cut interest rates more sharply. At one point he said that anyone who defended high rates was guilty of ?treason.?

Davuto?lu?s March 8 meetings focused on developments in domestic and foreign markets, in light of his meetings with foreign investors in New York, sources said.

Ba?ç? reportedly briefed Davuto?lu about his upcoming March 9 meeting in Basel, Switzerland, where the central bank governors of many large economies will meet to discuss global economic developments.

Speaking in the southern Turkish province of Gaziantep on March 7, President Erdo?an referred to criticism of his severe recent...