By Janet Ekstract
ISTANBUL- It’s official, Turkish President Erdogan named Hafize Gaye Erkan, a prominent former finance executive in the U.S., Turkiye’s new central bank governor. Turkiye’s Official Gazette made the announcement on Friday. Erkan previously held positions as a co-CEO at First Republic Bank and managing director at Goldman Sachs. She is now Turkiye’s fifth central bank head in four years who is highly respected in the finance arena in New York City. She has worked on Wall Street and held positions on U.S. corporate boards who was also a director on the board of Marsh McLennan, a fortune 500 firm and was named CEO at the real estate and investment firm Greystone in 2022.
Erkan met with the newly appointed Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek on Monday. Analysts view Simsek as a welcome addition to Erdogan’s new cabinet since his finance background is known to be a lot more austere and conservative. Simsek has called for a return to “rational” when it comes to controlling runaway inflation. Meanwhile, Sahap Kavcioglu who previously held Erkan’s position was named head of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK), according to the Official Gazette. Observes and finance experts are speculating about whether Turkish economic policies will depart from low-interest rates in an effort to provide stability that has rocked the Turkish economy. Simsek has reiterated that his main focus going forward will be “price stability” and getting Turkiye’s economy back on track.
