ISTANBUL (Dispatches) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkey came under a "heinous economic attack” after statements from the United States.
At a speech to officials from his AK Party in Ankara, he said: "We have faced a heinous attack targeting the Turkish economy after a series of negative statements from the U.S. about our country were used as an excuse.”
Erdogan also said Turkey would see the result of the central bank’s independence after its substantial rate increase a day earlier. On Thursday the central bank lifted its benchmark rate by 6.25 percentage points.
Erdogan further called on Turks to convert all savings to lira and also urged the private sector not to abandon production and investments.
Washington has imposed sanctions on two Turkish ministers and doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from the country. Such measures are largely believed to have led to a sharp decline in the value of Turkey's national currency.
The lira has fallen more than 40 percent against the dollar this year, driving up the cost of food and fuel and sending inflation soaring to 18 percent, its highest in a decade and a half.
Washington took the punitive measures in protest at Ankara's detention of American Pastor Andrew Brunson, who has been accused of having links with terror organizations in Turkey.
To help ward off the impacts of U.S. measures, the Turkish government has ordered exporters to convert 80 percent of their foreign exchange revenues into lira.
Erdogan had earlier lashed out at the U.S. for behaving like "wild wolves," stressing that Ankara would pursue non-dollar transactions in trade with Russia and other countries.
Turkey’s exports totaled $157 billion last year, according to official data.
Meanwhile, Erdogan said his AK Party would look into the possibility of forming an alliance with the nationalist MHP party for local elections in March 2019.
The AK Party formed an alliance with the MHP before parliamentary and presidential elections in June and Erdogan told AKP officials in a speech in Ankara the parties planned to hold talks on a fresh alliance.