Inflation targeting

The U.S. Federal Reserve left its key lending rate unchanged on Wednesday and penciled in just one rate cut this year, down from the three expected in March after inflation stalled in the first quarter.

The European Central Bank (ECB) still has "a long way to go" to tame inflation, its president Christine Lagarde said Friday, a day after the body announced its first interest rate cut since 2019.

The European Central Bank on Thursday made its first interest rate cut since 2019, reducing borrowing costs from record highs, but the path ahead remains unclear with inflation volatile.

The key deposit rate was lowered a quarter point to 3.75 percent. Rates had been on hold since October, after an unprecedented streak of hikes starting mid-2022 to tame runaway consumer prices.

Türkiye's sole focus is now on price stability, Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek has announced, projecting September inflation to potentially reach 40 percent.

The Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will meet for a fifth time this year to decide on the one-week repo auction rate.

Economists widely expect the bank to keep the key interest rate unchanged at 50 percent on May 23 as it did at the MPC meeting in April.

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday held interest rates steady for a sixth straight meeting, keeping the level at a 23-year high to fight stubborn price increases.

After a two-day gathering, the central bank decided unanimously to keep the benchmark lending rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50 percent, citing a "lack of further progress" towards its two percent inflation target.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates steady for a sixth straight meeting Wednesday, with a summer start to cuts looking less likely owing to stubborn inflation.

If Bulgaria fails to meet European Central Bank inflation targets in June, its planned accession to the eurozone in 2025 could be delayed by months, the country's central bank governor has said.

Türkiye's Central Bank has decided to opt for lifting the key policy rate, increasing the one-week repo auction rate from 45 percent to 50 percent.

Most economists had expected the Central Bank, which held the policy rate steady last month after eight straight increases, to keep the rate unchanged at the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on March 21.

The fight against inflation remains the government's priority, Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz has reiterated, voicing optimism that inflation will gradually come down as predicted in the medium-term program.