Turkish Central Bank keeps policy interest rate unchanged

Turkish Central Bank left its key interest rate unchanged at record low 6.25 percent.

In addition to one-week repo lending rate, the bank also kept overnight borrowing rate unchanged at 1.5 percent and lending rate at 9 percent.

After a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee, the bank said in a statement that recent data regarding economic activity confirmed bank's views and it added that private consumption and investment growth rates were moderate, while external demand outlook remained weak.

However, the bank said that core inflation was expected to increase at a moderate pace over the short term due to impact of rising import prices and base effects.

The bank said recent measures taken by Turkey's Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, or BDDK, to curb personal loans would help balance internal and external demand, adding that the gap in current account would narrow in the last quarter of the year thanks to these policies.

The bank concluded that it maintained its position considering slowdown in economic activity and recently rising uncertainty in global economy.

The summary of the Monetary Policy Committee Meeting will be released within five working days.


/World Bulletin/