September 2000
Central bank governor of the year 2000: The Indiana Jones of central bankers
Other central bank governors may lead a sedate life, contemplating the economy through half open eyes and jumping into action once or twice a year to notch the prime rate up or down by 25 basis points before they go back to watching the fiscal grass grow. Not Turkey’s Gazi Ercel. Metin Munir reports
For Gazi Ercel life at the helm of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has been a fast moving sequence of spectacular pursuits and narrow escapes, sea changes and dire straits, hair- pin bends and sharp drops. His may well be the greatest adventure in the history of central banking.
|
Ercel: "One can never
expect to have an easy
ride in Turkey. At least,
I never had one." |
To start with, in just over four years as central banker he has worked with five governments and 11 economy ministers. Meanwhile, the Treasury lost five secretaries general, and may be on the verge of losing the incumbent, Selcuk Demiralp, who has been rumoured to be on the point of resigning for months.
The saga includes suicide, military intervention, the first Islamic prime minister in a NATO country, and the worst international financial crisis since World War II.
Ercel's unusual...
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