Pedestrians walk in Istanbul during the Eid al-Fitr holiday on March 31. Turkish inflation slowed to 38.1% that month. © Reuters
KANA WATANABE
ISTANBUL -- The lira has depreciated by about 3% against the dollar in the weeks since the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu as financial markets grow concerned that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's authoritarian policies will rattle the economy.
The currency's softening could affect efforts to curb inflation. The consumer price index was up 38.1% on the year in March, for a 10th consecutive month-to-month decline in the rate of increase, in data released Thursday by the Turkish Statistical Institute. Year-on-year inflation had hit a recent peak of 75.5% in May 2024.