Turkish lira weakens against dollar

The Turkish lira eased a further 0.5% against the dollar on Wednesday, weakening for the fifth consecutive session and bringing the currency back towards the lows which it hit in late December after a series of unorthodox interest rate cuts.

The lira weakened as far as 15.38 in morning trade from a close of 15.2490 on Tuesday. It stood at 15.29 at 07:06 GMT.

A currency crisis late last year sent the lira to a record low of 18.4 on Dec. 20, triggering state measures to underpin the lira through a scheme to protect lira deposits against depreciation and major forex market interventions.

Following a 44% slide in 2021, the lira has dipped another 14% this year after a long period of stability was upset by concerns about economic fallout from the war in Ukraine, which sent Turkey's already hefty energy import bill soaring.

The Turkish central bank sold $3.296 billion in foreign currency in April to Turkey's state economic enterprises, primarily energy importer Botas, reflecting the rising cost of energy imports.