Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit announced on Friday, March 2, the appointment of the new governor of the central bank, Sureyya Serdengecti, who was formerly deputy governor. Serdengecti's appointment follows the resignation last week of the previous governor Gazi Ercel after the government abandoned a currency peg and floated the lira in the face of a severe financial crisis.
Serengecti has held various posts at the central bank since 1980 and has been the bank's deputy governor since January 1998. He holds an economics degree from Turkey's prestigious Middle Eastern Technical University and a Master's degree from the Vanderbildt University in the United States.
Serdengecti's appointment comes as Turkey has to revise an ambitious IMF-backed economic program after the government cut the lira loose, causing the Turkish currency to fall around 30 percent against the dollar. —(AFP)
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
