By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday Turkey will take further action to prevent fluctuation in foreign exchange rates.
Speaking at a meeting of the Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen (TESK) in Ankara, Erdogan said the country is struggling against all issues affecting the Turkish economy without getting outside the boundaries of the free market system.
“We are well aware that some other countries that had faced similar problems have solved those problems in a way that does not fit with the definition of a free market economy, ” Erdogan said.
“However, we did not resort to such ways in the past, and will not [do it in the future], ” he added.
The U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate stood at 6.44 as of 1 p.m. (1000GMT) Thursday.
The USD/TRY exchange rate saw harsh fluctuations as lira lost around 40 percent against the dollar since the beginning of this year.
Last year, the average USD/TRY exchange rate was 3.65 while one dollar traded for 3.02 Turkish liras on average in 2016.
