Turkey's Central Bank

Turkey's central bank held rates steady at 19% as expected on Thursday and dropped a pledge to tighten policy further if needed, in its first decision since President Tayyip Erdogan fired the hawkish former governor and sparked a market selloff.

Turkey's central bank on April 15 held its main interest rate at 19 percent in the first decision since President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan sacked its former governor.

In its fourth Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting under new Governor Şahap Kavcıoğlu, the bank made no changes to its benchmark policy rate - also known as the one-week repo rate- keeping it at 19%.

Turkey's central bank on March 18 hiked its main interest rate by a higher-than-expected 200 basis points to 19 percent to counter rising inflation and the dropping value of the lira.

The bank said it "has decided to implement a front-loaded and strong additional monetary tightening" after seeing the annual inflation rate climb to 15.6 percent last month.

Turkey's Central Bank on Feb. 24 revised its regulations on reserve requirements to improve the effectiveness of the monetary transmission mechanism in the country.

The bank increased Turkish lira reserve requirement ratios by 200 basis points- for all liability types and maturity brackets.

Turkey's Central Bank on Jan. 28 kept the country's year-end inflation forecasts unchanged at 9.4% this year and 7% next year.

The inflation rate will fluctuate between 7.3% and 11.5% through end of this year, the bank's governor told a virtual meeting held to release the bank's first quarterly inflation report in 2021.

Turkey's central bank on Dec. 24 hiked its main interest rate by two percentage points to 17 percent and promised further monetary tightening to help tamp down soaring inflation.

Turkey's Central Bank governor on Dec. 16 said the risk of upward inflation will require a tight, decisive monetary policy stance in 2021, adding that it will be tightened if needed.

Turkey's Central Bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged next week, according to an Anadolu Agency survey on Aug. 14. 

The eighth monetary policy committee (MPC) meeting of this year will be held on Thursday (Aug. 20) to announce the bank's decision on interest rates.

A majority of 22 economists surveyed by Anadolu Agency forecast no change in interest rates.

Consumer prices in Turkey went up in May compared to the same month last year, the country's statistical authority announced on June 3. 

May's annual inflation rate was up 11.39% from 10.94% in April amid coronavirus, Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) data showed.

Turkey's Central Bank posted 44.73 billion Turkish liras ($7.87 billion) net profit in 2019, the bank announced on May 18.

The bank's net profit was 56.3 billion Turkish liras ($11.67 billion) in 2018, according to a press release by the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT).