The Turkish lira hit a record low on Thursday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said interest rates would decline, spooking financial investors already skittish about his new government’s ability to manage a potential currency crisis.

The lira, which has lost more than a fifth of its value so far this year, hit a record low of 4.98 to the dollar before recovering some of its losses. It is still down about 6% this week after Erdogan appointed Berat Albayrak, who is married to his daughter, to run the economy in a cabinet he announced after swearing in as Turkey’s vastly empowered president on Monday.

The nominally independent Central Bank may have little room to maneuver despite signs Turkey may be heading toward a currency crisis, with Erdogan now firmly in control of the levers of power following his election last month to Turkey’s newly minted executive presidency in the wake of constitutional changes he designed and won approval for in a 2017 referendum.

The lira’s precipitous fall came after Erdogan doubled down on his frequent demand for lower interest rates. Newspapers quoted him as saying on Wednesday, “I believe we will see interest rates fall in the coming period.”