Istanbul, Aug 18 () – The upsurge of dollar amid political uncertainities and rumours over a strong possibility of snap election gathered momentum after the Central Bank held the short term interest rates unchanged, despite the anticipations.

After the decision of the Central Bank Monetary Policy Committee to peg the short term interest rates, dollar hit a new historical record high of 2.9005 liras, while euro saw 3.2041 liras exceeding the 3.2 level.

Efforts of the Central Bank to stop the dollar's surge, by increasing the amount of foreign exchange auctions to 70 million dollars, up from 30 million dollars, were unsuccessfull and dollar remained high at around 2.9 lira.

"In this context, the amount of foreign exchange selling auctions will be set on a daily basis depending on the conditions in the foreign exchange market" said the CEntral Bank in the statement.