Two men with Wall Street and Western Ethereum backgrounds have taken up positions of power in the Turkish economic arena, causing markets to hope—now rightfully so—for a change in the course of unorthodox monetary policy.

After installing it Mehmet Simsekformer Merrill Lynch analyst as the new Treasury Secretary, who is expected to pursue more market-friendly policies, a new “surprise” came along with Hafiz Gage Erkan to the reins of the Central Bank of Turkey. The announcement of a new role for Erkan, who holds a PhD from Princeton in applied mathematics and financial engineering, raised hopes Friday morning for the end of an era of low interest rates and constant foreign exchange intervention to support the pound.

Who is she

Erkan worked for nearly a decade at Goldman Sachs and then spent eight years as co-CEO of the now-defunct US bank First Republic, a position she abruptly left about 18 months before its collapse. She then briefly worked as managing director of Greystone Bank in New York.

After Ercan took over the reins of the central bank, Turkey became one of the few countries where the head of the central bank is a woman. However, its role on the country’s economic scene may eventually become even more important. Erkan replaced Saab Çavcioğlu, as well as a number of central bankers who, at the behest of Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, have consistently cut interest rates to bring down inflation, contrary to conventional economic theory and empirical evidence. Under the new government, after nearly two and a half years in office, Çavcioğlu took over as head of Turkey’s banking regulator, a role that has become more symbolic since the central bank began to intervene decisively in the economy.

The question remains whether Erdogan will allow the central bank to raise interest rates sufficiently.

Uncertainty

These events indicate that the country is on the verge of a change in monetary policy. However, nothing has been proven yet, because Ercan has not clearly indicated the direction in which the central bank will move. However, looking at her professional career, as well as the articles she has written from time to time in recent years in the Turkish newspaper Dunya, one can draw conclusions. For example, in March he argued that Fed tightening increased the risk of a US recession by the end of the year, while he questioned the alternative offered by Japan’s low interest rate policy.

“We hope Erkan’s appointment signals an improvement in her predecessor’s policies,” Nick Stadtmiller of Medley Global Advisors told Bloomberg. He added: “The question remains whether Erdogan will allow the central bank to raise the key interest rate sufficiently to bring down inflation.”

Mistrust

Thus, despite the fact that the new faces in key positions in the country’s economic policy are “in harmony” with international markets, mistrust still prevails. Moreover, it looks like Turkey still has a long way to go before significant changes take place. The pound hit new lows against the dollar this week despite intervention in the foreign exchange market. In addition, inflation, although declining from a peak of 85% last year, is still at an unimaginable level of 39.59%.

Investors are waiting for the bank’s decision at the next meeting on June 22. JP Morgan and Barclays expect the key rate to rise by 16.5 basis points to 25%. In fact, JP Morgan is forecasting an earlier growth scenario.