Turkey’s lira weakened further on Wednesday to near 18.0 against the dollar and the record lows it hit late last year as worries about the government’s foreign exchange policy grew in the face of rampant inflation.

The lira was 0.3 per cent weaker at 17.9150 against the US currency at 1113 GMT. It was trading at its weakest levels since a full-blown currency crisis in December, when it hit an all-time low of 18.4.