31 Dec 2021; MEMO: President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Turks should keep all their savings in lira in 2022 amid recent exchange rate volatility, Reuters reports.
According to the report, Erdogan called on Turks to keep their savings in local currency, Turkish liras, and to bring their gold savings into the banking system.
"I want all my citizens to keep their savings in our own money, to run all their business with our own money, and I recommend this," Erdogan said.
He also reiterated that the interest rates are the main reason of inflation.
In 2021, the lira crisis was triggered by the central bank's aggressive interest rate cuts, amounting to 500 basis points since September, carried out under pressure from Erdogan as part of a bid to boost credit and exports.
In the first week of December, Turkish government raised rates from 2,826 lira ($172.90) to 4,250 ($274) due to currency crisis.
In Turkey, annual inflation rose to 21.31 per cent in November, increasing food and gas prices. This was the highest rate since November 2018.
Last day of 2021, the Turkish lira is at 13.295 dollars.
