Turkish Central Bank reduces number of monetary policy meetings

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

The Turkish Central Bank has reduced its number of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings from 12 to eight times a year, the bank said Jan. 28.      

The move is intended to give the bank more time to formulate effective monetary policy responses.    
  
Last November, Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek announced that the bank would reduce the number of meetings.      

“With a new legal arrangement, the number of the bank’s interest rate-determining monthly meetings will be reduced to at least eight times a year,” said Şimşek, who oversees the economy.

“Reducing the number of meetings will give more time to the bank to establish an effective monetary policy response based on analyses which reflect key trends and are free of short-term volatility,” he said.
     
He said the new move was in line with international practices, as seen in U.S. Federal Open Market Committee meetings.      

The Central Bank said its Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy for 2018 would be published on Dec. 5, 2017.