Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is defying the standard prescriptions for inflation – the country's worst in nearly two decades – by burning through currency reserves and central bank governors to keep interest rates low. As those reserves dwindle and lines lengthen at subsidised bakeries, we ask our guests about the impact on ordinary citizens and why Erdogan is holding out, with cues to booming exports which he says are the flipside of a plummeting lira.
Furthermore, we ask about the timing of these decisions, still well ahead of the 2023 elections.
Erdogan is to visit Saudi Arabia and its crown prince next month after having recently travelled to Qatar. Next month's trip will be a first since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Again, the question of timing arises.
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Sophie Pizzimenti and Léopoldine Iribarren.
