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Turkey’s lira continued its slide towards a record low after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed once again to cut interest rates despite spiralling inflation, FT reported.

The currency fell to 17 against the dollar on Wednesday, extending a steep slide this week that has come after Erdoğan, a life-long opponent of high borrowing costs, launched an impassioned tirade against them.

The Turkish president said this week that the country had “wasted years” with the misguided view that prices should be controlled by using higher borrowing costs to suppress consumption. Such policies, he said, benefited only “those living a charmed existence and filling their pockets with [the proceeds of] high interest”, including foreign investors.

Erdoğan promised to cut interest rates further even though inflation reached a 23-year high of 73.5 per cent last month, saying: “This government will not raise interest rates. On the contrary, we will continue to cut rates.”

The lira fell about 2 per cent on Wednesday, bringing its losses for the year to 22 per cent after dropping almost 45 per cent in 2021. A year ago, the currency traded at just over TL8 against the dollar.