ANKARA — Turkey’s central bank on Thursday kept the country’s interest rates steady at 50%, even as Turkey’s annual inflation continue to rise to 67.07% in March.
The Central Bank Governor Fatih Karahan, who paid a visit to the United States last week for the IMF’s spring meetings reasserted the bank’s target to reduce the inflation to 36%, during a presentation released by the bank. According to the bank’s projections, inflation is expected to peak in May before starting to decline.
The decision comes after the move comes after an unexpected hike of 500 basis points last month, increasing rates from 45% to 50%, resuming monetary tightening after a one-month pause.
The tight monetary policy will be maintained until a decline in the inflation is observed, the monetary policy committee said last month when unveiling last month’s hikes.
Thursday’s decision had been predicted by most economists in a Reuters poll released earlier this week.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
