US leniency on S-400 offers Turkey chance to repair economy
The US president's reluctance to impose sanctions following Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system has created a window of opportunity for officials to restructure the nation’s ailing economy.
In his first press conference as the new governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, Murat Uysal reduced the nation’s inflation forecast and said he had “considerable” room to implement more interest rate cuts in the coming months.
Uysal was appointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier this month after his predecessor was dismissed for resisting aggressive interest rate cuts. During his speech on Wednesday, he echoed comments by Turkey’s Finance Minister Berat Albayrak the previous day that state leaders would seek to implement financial policies to revive Turkey’s long-ailing economy.
“In the upcoming period, we have a considerable room for maneuver on rates. Its application, timing and size will depend on the improvements on prices and financial stability,” Uysal said. “We will make [the decision] based on data.”
The press conference came a week after Uysal implemented Turkey’s first monetary easing policies in four years, slashing the central bank’s key interest rate by 425 basis points to 19.75%. The cut was deeper than most investors had expected, but made little initial impact on the nation’s currency, the Turkish lira, which has since appreciated slightly.
