Behind Erdogan’s Strange Ideas About Interest Rates

Source:Bloomberg Date:02Aug2019

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan doesn’t like it when the country’s banks charge people relatively heavily to borrow money. That alone doesn’t make him unusual for a politician, given that cheap money can garner electoral support. What makes Erdogan extraordinary is his unorthodox argument for low interest rates and his determination to bring them about by wresting control of monetary policy from theoretically independent central bankers.

Why is he so adamant about low interest rates despite repeated lessons about meddling with the cost of money?  Onur Ant explains.