Turkish Central Bank keeps rates unchanged

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey’s Central Bank yesterday kept its key interest rates unchanged unsurprisingly, citing pleasing domestic and foreign demand figures.

The bank, which has cut the main interest rates twice in the previous months with the ambition of spurring the slowing down economy, kept its benchmark one-week repo rate at 4.5 percent and its interest rate corridor between 3.5 and 6.5 percent, it said after yesterday’s Monetary Policy Committee meeting.The bank retained the three main interests for the first time since August.

It still warned against the decreasing exports due to falling demand in global markets, “despite the healthy recovery of the domestic demand,” which has been the bleeding wound of Turkey as a drawback ahead of achieving higher growth rates.

Credit growth in Turkey “remains above the reference level,” the bank also indicated.