The FINANCIAL — Turkey’s central bank on August 18 held interest rates steady for the sixth consecutive month sending the lira to record lows against the dollar, according to Nasdaq.
The rate decision comes against a background of mounting political uncertainty, with the risk of early elections looming within months, which has put downward pressure on the lira.
The Monetary Policy Committee said in a statement on the central bank’s website that it kept the benchmark one-week repo rate at 7.5% and would not change the interest rate corridor, ranging from the overnight borrowing rate of 7.25% to the overnight lending rate of 10.75%.
Eight of the 12 economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had forecast Turkey’s central bank to stay put in August—keeping all interest rates and the policy framework steady. All participants said they anticipate the overnight lending rate to remain unchanged. But four economists had said the central bank will raise the benchmark one- week repo rate from 7.5% to either 8% or 8.5%, which would mark the first increase since an emergency meeting in January 2014.
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