Former Turkish central bank chief Süreyya Serdengeçti passed away on Saturday at the age of 73, local media reports said.
Serdengeçti, who served as the head of the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) from 2001 to 2006, is credited with lowering inflation to single digits during his tenure, which followed the 2001 economic crisis.
Within the same period, in 2005, Türkiye also transitioned to the new currency by dropping six zeros from the previous "old lira."
Serdengeçti was born in Istanbul in 1952 and graduated from the Middle East Technical University in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in economics. Later on, between 1984 and 1986, he studied in the U.S., where he earned a master's degree in economics at Vanderbilt University.
In 1980, he began working in the Foreign Debt Repayment Department of the CBRT, and from 1982 onward, he served in the Foreign Exchange Operations Department. Upon his return to Türkiye, he continued to manage foreign exchange reserves at the central bank.
He held several other positions before being appointed as the governor of the central bank in March 2001 by then-State Minister for the Economy, Kemal Derviş.
"We have learned with sadness of the passing of Mr. Süreyya Serdengeçti, who served as the Governor of the Central Bank between 2001 and 2006. We extend our condolences to his family and all his loved ones, and pray for God’s mercy upon him," the CBRT said in a statement on X on Saturday.
