What's going on?

The Turkish lira dropped to a record low on Tuesday � the latest gut punch for an economy struggling to catch its breath.

What does this mean?

Turkey�s been rolling the dice with a high-risk economic gambit: trimming interest rates in a bid to tackle inflation � a strategy that puts it at odds with just about every Economics 101 class you ever slept through. Unsurprisingly, those moves have fanned the flames of inflation � and since lower rates are shunned by investors and savers anyway, the lira�s been in free fall ever since, shedding a fifth of its value in the last year.

For a while, a neck-and-neck election held out a glimmer of hope for change, but investor optimism fizzled out when the current government clinched victory over the weekend. That triggered a swift investor retreat � denting the lira by the most in a year and pushing it to a new record low against the US dollar.

Why should I care?

For markets: Bosphorus bust.
There are whispers that a more conventional finance minister could make a comeback in the face of this financial maelstrom, potentially steering the economy back on course. And if that doesn�t happen, then this economic quicksand could deepen. See, government efforts to halt the lira�s slide � like selling off foreign reserves and buying lira in order to shore up the currency � can only last so long: the country�s running out of reserves pretty quickly, and with government finances already on the brink, the lira might soon be sliding again.

For you personally: Pack your bags.
Turkey’s economy is looking worse for wear right now, but there might be some respite on the horizon. See, a currency at rock-bottom is exactly what travel-starved, cash-stretched globetrotters will be on the lookout for � and an influx of tourists could give the economy a short-term shot in the arm.