Turkish businesses welcome early elections

By Elif Erhan Yesilyurt

ISTANBUL (AA) - The head of the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK) welcomed the early elections that are to take place in Turkey on June 24.

Nail Olpak especially praised the fact that the presidential system would be put in place after these elections.

"The capital dislikes the uncertainty," he told the Anadolu Agency Finance Desk in Istanbul.

Assesing the early elections' influence on the economy, he stressed that elections were necessary to democratic life.

He said he was not satisfied with the Turkish lira's value against foreign currencies.

The U.S. dollar/lira exchange rate climbed over 4.30 on Tuesday. The euro/lira exchange rate is also hovering between 5.10 and 5.11.

In a move to provide liquidity amid foreign exchange fluctuations, on Monday the Turkish Central Bank lowered the upper limit for its forex maintenance facility to 45 percent from 55 percent -- to provide $2.2 billion in liquidity to banks and withdraw 6.4 billion liras in liquidity from the market.