Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his top economic advisers will take steps to curb inflation and halt the lira’s slide, the country’s presidency said on Wednesday after the currency hit a fresh record low.

Mr Erdogan convened an emergency meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara as the lira continued to tumble amid fears about high inflation, a wide current account deficit and a flurry of election spending promises. The announcement of the meeting caused the currency to rebound to 4.29 against the dollar as investors bet that the Turkish central bank would call an emergency meeting and announce another rate increase just weeks after it raised its key rate by 75 basis points.

Following two-and-a-half hours of discussions, the presidency said in a statement that measures would be taken to reduce interest rate and exchange rate pressures, and to combat inflation. It did not specify what the measures would be.

“The Central Bank will continue to effectively use the instruments that it has in its possession,” it said. In comments unlikely to calm fears that the Turkish economy is overheating, the statement also attributed Turkey’s success to growth-orientated policies, adding: “In the period ahead, our country will continue on the path of growth-based policies.”

Source: ft.com