The new Central Bank Deputy Governor Professor Semih Tumen will add market credibility with his well-accepted academic studies, according to eight academicians speaking to Reuters. He was appointed for the post with a presidential decree published in the Official Gazette on May 25, and took over the seat from Oguzcan Ozbas, who was appointed on August 30, 2019, when Berat Albayrak was still in the cabinet.
Tumen stands out with his academic studies notably on employment and the history of the Central, 20 years of experience and macro economy knowledge.
“It’s a good appontiment for the CB’s future. He is an esteemed economist whose name is known in the market. He has more than 20 years of CB experience. I think his contribution will be strong,” said a CB staffer.
A Turkish banker said: “His name is known in the market (and given) his macro knowledge he will be prominent in the Monetary Policy Committee.”
All eight academics drew attention to his internationally accepted studies and said that they thought Tumen was an achievement for the CBRT. Academicians also drew attention to the prominence of the work of Tumen in employment.
Tumen got his bachelor’s degree from Middle East Technical University’s Department of Economics in 2000. He completed his master’s degree in Econometrics and Mathematical Economy at London School of Economics in 2006, in Economy at Chicago University in 2007, and a doctoral degree at the same university in 2012.
He started working as Assistant Specialist at the Central Bank in 2002 and served in various departments until 2011, when he started serving as Economist in the Research and Monetary Policy Department. Professor Tumen acted as Deputy Executive Director of the Research and Monetary Policy Department from 2015 to 2016, and Executive Director of the Structural Economic Research Department between 2016 and 2018.
From 2018 onwards, Tumen served as Head of Department of Economics at TED University and Advisor to the Human Resources Office of the Presidency. In addition, he acted as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Labor Economics as well as at the Economic Research Forum starting from 2015. His research has been published in various international journals, and he has also served as a referee and editor in many international academic journals.
