Turkish lira hits record low

People take part in protest in Istanbul Ankara - Arab Today The Turkish lira plunged Friday to a new historic low against the dollar and the stock market also slumped as the political crisis in the country deepened. The lira fell to 2.1467 to the dollar while the Istanbul stock exchange's BIST 100 index dropped by 3.76 percent around 0910 GMT Friday, after having fallen 2.33 percent Thursday and 4.2 percent Wednesday. "Turkey is sinking into a political crisis and the Turkish lira is at an historic low," said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix. On Wednesday three top ministers whose sons have been caught up in police anti-corruption raids announced their resignations, with one calling on Erdogan to also step down in the first such challenge to the prime minister from within his own ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). In response to the escalating crisis, Erdogan announced a long-expected cabinet reshuffle and named 10 new ministers -- almost half of the cabinet. The lira's fall came despite the decision of the Turkish central bank, announced Tuesday, to sell off some of its dollar reserves in order to shore up the currency, which was already weakened by the money tightening of the US central bank. The Turkish central bank planned to inject 450 million dollars daily from now until December 31 and a total of three billion dollars in January to rescue the currency which has fallen 15 percent since January this year. Source: AFP