BREAKING NEWS

Turkish central banker is social scientist with roots in Islamic finance

ISTANBUL - After winning the backing of President Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's new central bank governor must now convince investors that an Islamic banker without formal training in economics can tame inflation while resisting political pressure to cut rates.
Turkey's cabinet on Monday approved Murat Cetinkaya as the next central bank head, giving some initial relief to investors who had feared a battle between Erdogan, who equates high interest rates with treason, and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu's more orthodox economic team.
Despite the initial relief in markets, the 40-year-old Cetinkaya remains something of an unknown quantity, lacking the experience of his predecessor, Erdem Basci, an engineer turned economics Ph.D. whose term as governor expires next week.