Hafize Gaye Erkan becomes Turkey’s first female central bank governor

Hafize Gaye Erkan has been appointed as the governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) on Friday, making her the first woman in this position.

Erkan, who has a Ph.D. from Princeton University in Financial Engineering, is a former co-CEO at First Republic Bank and a managing director at Goldman Sachs and is now the fifth chief in four years, replacing Sahap Kavicoglu.

Erkan’s monetary policy for CBRT is unclear, as she has no formal monetary policy experience in her career. However, CBRT has been expected to raise interest rates to 25 percent from 8.5 percent in June.