The latest desperate attempt to prop up the Turkish lira

abnormal is the new normal. If official figures are to be believed, annual inflation now exceeds 73%. If Turkish consumers are to be believed, it is much higher. Measured against the dollar, the lira resembles a black-diamond ski slope. The currency has lost a fifth of its value against the greenback since the start of the year. The obvious solution would be a dramatic increase in interest rates. But the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, refuses to allow the central bank to tighten monetary policy.The shock value of the zany economic theory Turkey’s leader has peddled for some time, namely that the solution to high inflation is low interest rates, has worn off. What has investors and Turkish companies spooked now are the lengths to which Mr Erdogan may go to keep the current monetary settings in place. The spectre of capital controls has begun to loom over the country.