Turkish lira hits record low before central bank meeting

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s currency has fallen to a record low against the dollar before a central bank meeting on interest rates. The lira traded at a low of 18.38 against the dollar on Thursday. That’s past the previous record low of 18.36 in December. Then it recovered to about 18.36. Turkey has been following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s unorthodox belief that high interest rates cause high inflation while much of the world is increasing their policy rates to combat inflation. The Turkish central bank last month lowered its benchmark rate by 100 points to 13%. Official statistics released earlier in September showed annual inflation at 80.21%.