Turkey Central Bank Leaves Key Rate Unchanged

(RTTNews) - Turkey's central bank left its key interest rate unchanged on Thursday amid heightened uncertainty surrounding the war in the Middle East. The Monetary Policy Committee, governed by Yasar Fatih Karahan, decided to keep the one-week repo rate at 37.00 percent, as widely expected.

Previously, the bank had slashed the policy rate by 100 basis points in January. The bank has left its overnight lending rate at 40.0 percent and overnight borrowing rate at 35.5 percent.

Although the underlying trend of inflation eased slightly in June, leading indicators suggest that the underlying trend will rise temporarily in July, the committee observed.

Recent data confirmed that domestic demand is weakening. Policymakers said the impact of the war on the inflation outlook is closely monitored.

"The tight monetary policy stance, which will be maintained until price stability is achieved, will strengthen the disinflation process through demand, exchange rate, and expectation channels," the bank said in a statement.