Turkey Central Bank Holds Key Rate As Expected

(RTTNews) - Turkey central bank maintained its benchmark rate for a seventh straight meeting on Thursday.

The Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey headed by Fatih Karahan decided to keep the one-week repo auction rate at 50.00 percent, as expected.

The bank had previously lifted the rate by 500 basis points in March.

"The Committee decided to keep the policy rate unchanged, but reiterated that it remains highly attentive to inflation risks," the bank said in a statement.

The committee will make its policy decisions so as to create the monetary and financial conditions necessary to ensure a fall in the underlying trend of inflation and to reach the 5 percent inflation target in the medium term.

In September, consumer price inflation weakened to 43.98 percent, which was the weakest since July 2023.

Capital Economics' economist Nicholas Farr said the monetary easing is still some way off. The economist said the fall in headline inflation will be slow and bumpy.