Turkey’s Central Bank ducks soaring inflation to cut rates again
Despite the highest inflation in 24 years, Turkey’s Central Bank has made its third interest cut ahead of elections next June.
Turkey’s Central Bank delivered another interest rate cut Thursday, lowering the benchmark one-week repo rate by 150 basis points to 10.5%. The slash comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's repeated calls to the autonomous body to lower interest rates to single digits despite Turkey's highest inflation in 24 years.
Erdogan, stubborn in his unorthodox belief that high interest rates cause inflation, has sacked a steady stream of finance ministers, including his son-in-law, and Central Bank governors since 2015 for not joining what he calls his battle against interest rates. But even his staunchest supporters have started grumbling about his election-focused economic policies, including the constant debate on interest rates.
