Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on June 5 has once again claimed that dark foreign powers are trying to "manipulate the Turkish economy by playing on currencies."
"Don’t pay any attention to those plots concerning foreign currencies. They’re manipulations against Turkey. We will settle old scores after the elections," Erdoğan said during a rally in Sakarya province for upcoming polls on June 24.
"Turkey’s economy, in all areas, is now far beyond developed countries,” Erdoğan added.
He tried to reassure the audience that country's economy has improved during his 16 years in power and responded to opposition parties’ critical assessments of the economy.
"In 2002, 91.000 cars were sold in Turkey but last year the figure was 723,000. Some 1.09 million fridges were sold per year but now it has risen to 3.11 billion. If every house has a refrigerator then there is a level of prosperity. If you have a car, you have prosperity," he added.
The currency had tumbled in May to a record low of 4.9290 against the dollar.
As well as an annual consumer inflation rate that hit 12.2 per cent in May, up 1.3 per cent on the previous month, the country is also grappling with a wide current account deficit and heavy corporate debt burden.
