On the first day of next year Turkey will stop being world champion for the number of zeros in its currency.
In January the Assembly passed a law authorising the government to redenominate the lira by throwing away six zeros from the currency. The lira became bloated over decades of endemic inflation, which made every Turk a millionaire. The minimum wage is TL303 million ($230). Since 1980 the central bank has been obliged to issue new banknotes every two years.
"Turkey is the only country in the world with a 20,000,000-lira banknote," says Ali Babacan, the minister of state for Treasury, addressing the Assembly....
