Protect Turkey's Central Bank From Interference

The same day Turkey’s central bank turned down President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s exhortations to cut interest rates, the parliament granted him emergency powers to act as he sees fit in the event any “negative development” threatens the country’s financial stability. Lawmakers also created a new Financial Stability and Development Committee, but the president has the authority to second-guess its recommendations.

This was unwise, and not only because the president harbors eccentric notions about economics and finance, notably his unshakable belief that high interest rates are the source of “every evil in an economy.” (The central bank recognizes that rates need to stay high — the benchmark is now 24 percent — in order to curb rampant inflation.)