ISTANBUL — Turkey’s Central Bank announced its largest interest rate hike in two years Thursday, sending the Turkish lira soaring on expectations the nation’s new economic team will pursue more predictable monetary policies.
In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, the Central Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee decided to increase the one-week repo rate by 475 basis points from 10.25% to 15%, as forecasted by a Reuters poll. The committee also moved to end a multitude of complex backdoor tightening measures, opting instead to provide all funding through the main policy rate while pledging to fight the nation’s double-digit inflation.
