Istanbul
Turkey’s central bank raised the benchmark interest rate on Thursday for a second time in a row under its new chief.
The bank announced after its Monetary Policy Committee meeting that it was raising the one-week repo rate the rate by which it lends to commercial banks by 200 basis points to 17 percent. The decision follows the November hike of 475 basis points.
A bank statement said the hike was enacted “to implement a strong monetary tightening, in order to eliminate risks to the inflation outlook, contain inflation expectations and restore the disinflation process as soon as possible.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ousted the previous central bank chief in November.—APP
