WHEN RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN speaks, the Turkish lira generally listens, shudders, and falls off a cliff. For once, something different happened. Facing a crisis of his own making, Turkey’s leader took a dramatic step to save the lira on December 20th, moments after the currency had plummeted to a new record low. The government, he announced, would guarantee bank deposits in lira, protecting them from swings in the exchange rate. The lira rebounded spectacularly on the news, moving from 18.36 to as low as 11.11 against the dollar, its biggest rally for nearly four decades.
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