Chart of the week: Turkish lira slumps to all-time lows

published 3 November 2017

The Turkish lira slipped by more than 5% against the US dollar in October alone, and is now close to revisiting January's all-time lows. Iraq's Kurdish region is seeking independence, which some fear could foment unrest among Turkish Kurds. A spat with the US over visas illustrates the government's authoritarian and irascible tendencies. In these circumstances, global investors require a decent real yield on government bonds to stick around, but with inflation at 11%, high compared with other emerging markets, and the average yield on debt at 11.4%, they're not getting one.