Lira hits highest value against US dollar in year

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's lira continued its recovery against the U.S. dollar on Monday, after the country's official statistics authority announced soaring economic growth.

The dollar/lira exchange rate dropped to 3.3986 by around 11 a.m. local time (0800GMT) Monday, down from 3.4080 at Friday's close.

The fall came shortly after the Turkish Statistical Institute reported 5.1 percent economic growth for the second quarter the year and an above 1 percent rise in the country's benchmark stock index, the BIST 100.

Since the beginning of September, the exchange rate has fallen by 1.86 percent. A dollar was exchanged for 3.51 lira on average last month, while the average during the first eight months was 3.61.

The dollar/lira rate saw sharp fluctuations after last year's July 15 defeated coup and climbed to an historic hike -- around 3.94 liras -- in mid-January.

According to Turkish Central Bank data, the dollar/lira rate was 3.02 on average last year and 2.71 on average in 2015.