* Investors concerned about Erdogan pressure on central bank
* Uncertainty about future economic team also weighs
* U.S. investors hold more than a fifth of main stock index
* Turkish lira hits latest in series of record lows
By Orhan Coskun and Daren Butler
ANKARA/ISTANBUL, March 4 (Reuters) - Turkey's prime minister and his economic team will seek to calm nerves among top investors in New York on Wednesday and Thursday after President Tayyip Erdogan's tirades against the central bank helped send the lira to record lows.
Erdogan has repeatedly attacked the bank over its failure to cut interest rates as sharply as he wants ahead of a June general election, telling its governor and Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, who is in charge of the economy, to "shape up".
His comments have fuelled uncertainty about the future of both Babacan, an anchor of investor confidence, and bank governor Erdem Basci. Ministers have tried to reassure markets that neither is about to quit.
Babacan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek are due to meet Goldman Sachs, Citi, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and various portfolio investors and fund managers in New York over the next two days, according to officials in the prime ministry.
The investors they will meet hold an estimated 22 percent of Turkey's top-100 share index, according to Isik Okte, investment strategist at Istanbul-based TEB Invest.
"The impact on the economy of President Erdogan's statements is triggering concern. That's what we understand from the questions coming in," one senior Turkish economy official told Reuters ahead of the meetings.
"What has happened recently in domestic politics and on the economic data front is temporary and will not cause lasting damage. We will share this view with investors."
As the team arrived in New York, the lira dropped to its latest all-time low of 2.5496 against the dollar, bringing its losses so far this year to some 9 percent.
Sentiment towards the lira was not helped by data on Tuesday showing annual February inflation rising to 7.44 percent, sharply above the bank's 5 percent target, limiting its room to cut rates as sharply as Erdogan wants.
Commenting on the data, the bank said on Wednesday that core inflation indicators had continued to improve. Economists expect it to trim its policy rate by a further 25 basis points at its next meeting on March 17, if the lira does not tumble sharply.
"CRITICALLY IMPORTANT"
TEB Invest's Okte said the outcome of the meetings would be "of critical importance" to the stock market's direction.