Interest rates need to fall for investment, says Erdoğan

ADANA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said interest rates had to come down to bring investment into the country, two weeks after the Central Bank raised interest rates for a second time in two weeks.

“If we are going to strengthen investors, we have to do it through low interest rates,” Erdoğan told a meeting with businesspeople in the southern province of Adana on June 19, as quoted by Reuters.

The Central Bank raised its policy rate by 300 basis points on May 23, then by another 125 basis points on June 7.

Turkey will hold parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24.

“[The bank] raised rates 3 points, then another 1.5 points. They are telling me I shouldn’t talk about this before the election. Why wouldn’t I? I have to speak the truth, so we can reach the truth,” Erdoğan said, while also referring to low interest rates in developed economies, such as Japan.