By Ezgi Erkoyun

ISTANBUL (Reuters] -Turkish President Tayyip Erdan appointed a supporter to his low interest rates drive as minister for treasury, finance and banking on Thursday. This replaces the former top official known to favor orthodox foreign policy in a country engulfed by a currency crisis.

Nureddin Nebati was named after Lutfi Elvan, his predecessor, asked for his “release from his duties” according to the Official Gazette. This happened because the lira had hit record lows due to market worries about the direction of the economic policy.

Nebati was a former deputy minister of finance for three years. Last week, he praised Erdogan’s effort to reduce interest rates.

Twitter: He said that “This is the time,” and that he was determined to put it into practice.

Since September, the Central Bank has reduced rates by 400 basis points to get it to 15%. This is well below the inflation rate of almost 20%.

In the past month, the lira fell 27%. After Nebati was appointed, the lira fell to 13.5 dollars on Thursday.

Elvan’s departure was widely predicted and covered by the media as well as opposition politicians. This marks the next stage of a reform of economic and monetary figures.

Erdogan has fired three central banking governors from mid-2019. Three of the bank’s top policymakers were also dismissed in October.

Elvan is similar to Naci Agbal the former Central Bank Governor, who was sacked March. “Elvan was seen as supportive for more restrictive demand managing policies and more focus on reducing inflation,” Murat Uur at Goldman Sachs said (NYSE:).

According to market sentiments, “his resignation will be seen negatively”

Nebati posted on Twitter his initial reaction after the announcement: “My God. Make it easy. Don’t make It difficult… Make its outcome positive.”

ELVAN’S YEAR

Elvan, a former deputy pm and long-time member of AK Party’s ruling party, was elected to office in January after Erdogan’s shocking resignation.

Elvan was seen by analysts as the final minister who could convince Erdogan to reconsider his dovish central bank position in September.

Elvan and Agbal were both market-friendly technocrats. They opted for more traditional economic policies, which began to reverse the years-long exodus from foreign investments that was accelerated under Albayrak.

The mood turned around in March, when Erdogan abruptly dismissed Agbal after raising the interest rates to 19%. This opened the door to an additional 36% fall in the currency.

Elvan’s resignation is just the latest of a series of rapid changes at the top of the economic ranks, including Erdogan’s dismissal three central bank governors over the past 2-1/2 years.

Sahap Kavcioglu now runs the central bank. He began an easing program in September. Then, in mid-November, he cut rates to 15% by another 100 points. Many analysts considered this reckless considering Turkey’s extremely low real yields.

The currency crash that followed has impacted Turks’ earnings severely, raised their foreign debt obligations sharply and led to opposition calls for elections early in order to reset their economic policies.