Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has decreed that property sales and rental agreements must be made in lira, putting an end to such deals in foreign currencies, in a fresh step to support the ailing local currency, Reuters reported.
The decision, published in Turkey’s Official Gazette on Thursday, said that sales contracts and rental agreements in foreign currency must be converted into lira within 30 days.
Real estate sale and rental deals in foreign currencies are common in Turkey, particularly in the retail sector.
The decision on transactions also included contracts for business and services. The contracts cannot be agreed in foreign currency or indexed to a foreign currency, according to the Official Gazette.
The country’s national currency has lost more than 50 percent of its value against the US dollar since the beginning of this year, triggered mainly because of Erdoğan’s tightening grip on the economy. Once again victorious in the presidential election on June 24, he appointed his son-in-law as treasury and finance minister.
The lira firmed to 6.18 to the dollar on Thursday following a central bank decision to hike interest rates by 625 basis points.