CENTRAL BANK CUTS INTEREST RATE IN FIRST EASING SINCE JANUARY
The Central Bank cut its benchmark policy rate by 100 basis points to 36% on Oct. 22, its first monetary easing since January, in line with market expectations.
Analysis
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The Central Bank cut its benchmark policy rate by 100 basis points to 36% on Oct. 22, its first monetary easing since January, in line with market expectations.
The central bank’s reliance on foreign exchange swaps has dropped sharply, marking a structural improvement in the quality of the bank’s international reserves.
Statements attributed to Central Bank Governor Fatih Karahan during IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok sparked debate over foreign exchange policy, prompting a direct denial from a top market economist who attended the session.
For the first time in nearly five years, Turkey’s annual inflation rate slipped below 30%, giving the central bank room to consider easing monetary policy at its meeting on Oct. 22.
The central bank and other regulator bodies stepped in to stabilize financial markets after alleged market manipulation, fraud and fund mismanagement sparked a major equity sell-off and corporate defaults.
Turkey's central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady on Sept. 10, matching market expectations as energy cost pressures continue to pose risks to the inflation outlook.
Hafize Gaye Erkan, who served for less than a year as Turkey’s first woman central bank governor, is under legal attack from neighbors in a luxury Bodrum resort who say she has made their lives unbearable.
The central bank has resumed one-week repo auctions after a nearly six-month pause, an operational shift that effectively lowers market funding costs and paves the way for official policy rate cuts.
The central bank has raised its year-end inflation forecast for 2026 to 28 percent from 26 percent.
The central bank kept its benchmark policy rate unchanged at 37% during its Monetary Policy Committee meeting on July 23, matching market expectations. However, business leaders are increasingly complaining about high borrowing costs, tight credit restrictions, and falling industrial output.
Most market participants expect the central bank to keep the policy rate unchanged at 37% when it meets on July 23, but pressure is building for a cut and some experts are calling for a wholesale shift in monetary policy.
The central bank kept its benchmark policy rate unchanged at 37% for the third consecutive meeting on June 11, matching the consensus forecast of economists. The Monetary Policy Committee also held its overnight lending rate at 40% and its borrowing rate at 35.5%. The central bank last altered its policy rate in January with a 100-basis-point cut.