Newly re-elected Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Friday named experienced banker Hafize Gaye Erkan as the new Central Bank Governor, replacing Sahap Kavcioglu.
She is the first female to be appointed in the position amidst speculations that the move is an indication that Erdogan’s new government aims to move towards a more conventional monetary policy.
A graduate of Istanbul’s Bogazici University, Erkan earned her doctorate in operations research and financial engineering at Princeton University.
She has held a number of senior positions, including at Goldman Sachs and the San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, which collapsed in May more than a year after Erkan stepped down as co-chief executive officer.
Her appointment is expected to indicate to markets that the country’s economic policies will normalise and move away from Erdogan’s policy of low interest rates in the face of rising inflation.
Erkan’s success will depend on how much autonomy she will be able to carve out at the central bank given that her predecessor largely followed guidance from Erdogan.
After Kavcioglu, Erkan’s predecessor, was named to the central bank helm in March 2021, the bank’s monetary policy committee gradually lowered its policy interest rate from 19 percent to 8.5 percent.
Last week Erdogan unveiled his new cabinet and announced new finance, foreign and defence ministers after clinching victory in a hotly contested runoff election.
