'Turkish PM met immediately with Central Bank governor on return from US'

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu met Central Bank governor Erdem Ba?ç? and senior economy officials late on March 7 following his arrival back from New York to discuss the lira's weakness, sources at the premier's office said.
   
Davuto?lu, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan and Finance Minister Mehmet ?im?ek met fund managers and bankers in New York last week in an attempt to allay concerns about the central bank's independence, fuelled by President Tayyip Erdo?an's criticism of the bank and its policies.
   
The Turkish lira hit a record low of 2.6470 to the dollar on March 6, following a week of losses, weighed on by demands from Erdo?an that the bank should cut interest rates more sharply. At one point he said anyone who defended high rates was guilty of "treason".
   
"Developments in domestic and foreign markets over the past couple of weeks have been discussed in the light of the prime minister's assessments based on his impressions of meetings with foreign investors during his New York visit," one of the sources said on March 8.
  
Davuto?lu met on Saturday night with Ba?ç?, Vahdettin Ertas?, the head of Turkey's Capital Markets Board (SPK) and Cavit Da?da?, acting undersecretary at the Treasury at the prime minister's office along with Babacan.