Erdogan names a former US executive as the head of turkeys central bank

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has picked a former US-based CEO to head Turkey’s central bank, signaling yet another shift in his administration’s economic policy.

Mr. Erdogan appointed Hafize Gaye Erkan, a former co-CEO of the First Republic Bank, as governor.

The Princeton-educated 41-year-old becomes Turkey’s first female central bank governor.

Mr. Erdogan was elected to a third presidential term last month, as the country grappled with a cost-of-living crisis fueled by inflation that peaked at a stunning 85% in October.

Critics blame Mr. Erdogan’s strategy of cutting interest rates to stimulate growth for the upheaval. The strategy contradicts mainstream economic theory, which advocates raising interest rates to combat inflation.

Mr. Erdogan reappointed Mehmet Simsek, a former banker, finance minister, and deputy prime minister, to the finance and treasury ministry on Saturday. He returned to the Cabinet after a five-year absence.

The choices of Mr. Simsek and Ms. Erkan are considered a sign that Mr. Erdogan may forsake measures labelled as “unorthodox” by many economists.

Ms. Erkan was a managing director at Goldman Sachs and worked for the now-defunct San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, where she served as co-CEO for six months in 2021.

She succeeds Sahap Kavcioglu, who supervised a series of rate reductions beginning in 2021.

Mr. Kavcioglu has been appointed as the head of the country’s banking watchdog, the BBDK.