Turkish Central Bank lowers interest rates by 50bps

ISTANBUL

The Turkish Central Bank on May 21 lowered its one-week repo rate by 50 base points, in line with market expectation.

A statement from the bank's fifth of 12 Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings scheduled for this year said the policy rate was dropped to 8.25% from 8.75%.

According to Anadolu Agency's survey on Monday, a group of 17 economists expected a drop in one-week repo rate with a median of 50 base points.

In April, the Central Bank cut its interest rate by full point amid coronavirus fears to 8.75% from 9.75% following reductions over the last ten months.

Since the beginning of this year, the bank has cut the rate by a total of 375 basis points.

In 2019, the bank cut the rate gradually by 1,200 basis points to 12% from 24%.