Turkey appoints former deputy Prime Minister Elvan as finance minister

Turkey appointed former deputy prime minister Lutfi Elvan as its treasury and finance minister to replace President Tayyip Erdogan's son-in-law Berat Albayrak, the country's Official Gazette said on Tuesday.

The move comes after Finance Minister Berat Albayrak resigned late Sunday and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan officially accepted his resignation on Monday.

Albayrak said in a surprise statement on Sunday that he was resigning for health reasons, a day after Erdogan appointed former finance minister Naci Agbal as the central bank chief.

The lira surged 6% against the dollar on Monday after the weekend upheaval on analysts' expectations for an interest rate hike that could ease pressure on the currency.

The currency, which had tumbled 30% this year to a series of record lows, weakened 1.6% on Tuesday to 8.1800 from a close of 8.0520 on Monday.

Elvan, from Erdogan's ruling AK Party, was development minister between 2016 and 2018 and before that served as a deputy prime minister.

On Monday, newly-installed governor Naci Agbal said the central bank would "decisively" use all policy tools to achieve its main goal of price stability.

Turkish inflation has held near 12 per cent all year, well above a target of around 5 per cent.