Turkish lira gains ground rapidly this week

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Turkish lira gained a large ground against foreign currencies during the last week, when the Turkish economy saw some significant changes.

The Turkish lira improved 10.2% against the US dollar, with the exchange rate dropping to 7.6920 at Friday's close, versus the last week's close rate of 8.5660.

EUR/TRY and GBP/TRY exchange rates also dropped 10.7% and 9.87%, respectively, over the same period.

The country recently replaced the governor of the Central Bank and appointed a new treasury and finance minister.

On Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will be holding a series of meetings with international investors to discuss opportunities, potential, and the support the country will extend to them.

Erdogan also said the country is set to make structural reforms to improve the investment environment, increase the depth of the financial markets and quality of public revenues and expenditures, and to prevent informal economy.

The market also focused on the Monetary Policy Meeting, to be held by the Central Bank next Tuesday to decide on policy rates. Economists expect rise in interest rates.