istanbul march 11 reuters  the lira weakened for a ninth consecutive session on friday as investors calculated the impact on turkey of russias invasion of ukraine with data showing a widening current account deficit and rising inflation expectations the lira fell as much as 07 to 149780 against the dollar half its value a year ago and bringing its losses since january to 12 the leap in energy and commodity prices came as the ukraine conflict further stoked turkeys surging inflation which exceeded 54 in february and widened its current account deficit turkey is heavily dependent on energy imports the january deficit while less than forecast widened to 711 billion  its highest level in four years  from 384 billion a month earlier reflecting the impact of surging energy imports read more this threatens to derail president tayyip erdogans new economic plan which aims to achieve a current account surplus and to keep interest rates low to help boost growth exports and employment meanwhile factory output growth in january slowed sharply to 76 yearonyear below forecasts and dipping 24 from a month earlier after energy supply disruption data showed the negative backdrop also pushed the end2022 consumer price inflation forecast to 4047 from 3406 a month earlier a central bank survey of market participants showed the end2022 liradollar forecast jumped to 166774 from a prediction of 160431 a month earlier the ukraine conflict was also hitting growth expectations goldman sachs lowered its 2022 gdp forecast to 2 from 3 and its 2023 forecast to 25 from 35 it said it also revised its 2022 current account deficit forecast up to 28 of gdp from 15 the liras 44 slide against the dollar last year was driven by a central bank easing cycle which began in september slashing its policy rate by 500 basis points to 14 ankara reversed the liras tumble to a record low of 184 on dec 20 through big forex market interventions and a scheme to protect lira deposits against depreciation this also helped keep the lira steady until the ukraine invasion in late february additional reporting by jonathan spicer writing by daren butler editing by ece toksabay and raissa kasolowsky