Turkey's lira weakened on Wednesday over investor worries regarding ties between Ankara and Washington and risk aversion in the market ahead of next week's central bank rate decision. The lira lost nearly 30 percent of its value against the dollar last year in a sell-off sparked by worries over the central bank's ability to adequately respond to a rise in inflation facing pressure from President Tayyip Erdogan to lower interest rates.

The lira stood at 5.51 to the dollar at 1417 GMT, slightly weaker than Tuesday's close of 5.4775. It weakened as much as 5.5450 earlier and is down nearly four percent this year.

The lira has also been hit by strained ties between Ankara and Washington, which sent the currency down more than 47 percent in August, at the height of the sell-off.

Copyright Reuters, 2019