Central Banks
Turkey Names Ex-NY Fed Economist as New Central Bank Chief
- Deputy Governor Fatih Karahan appointed new central bank chief
- Outgoing Gaye Erkan said she was resigning over smear campaign
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Turkey’s central bank Governor Hafize Gaye Erkan abruptly resigned late Friday night, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan quickly appointed Deputy Governor Fatih Karahan to replace her, signaling a continuation of the transition to more investor-friendly, orthodox economic policies that Erkan helped to spearhead.
Karahan has been a member of the central bank’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee since July, and had previously worked at the New York Fed and as a principal economist at Amazon.com, according to his biography on the central bank website. Prior to the announcement, Bloomberg reported that he was being considered for the central bank’s top job. Erdogan’s decision was published in the Official Gazette at midnight.